Cornerstone
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. AU - no zombies. Beth's the new girl that Dale has hired to answer the phones and handle the invoices and balance the books at the garage and while the other mechanics all try to give her their most charming smiles and best pickup lines, Daryl stays away from her as if she has some disease he's afraid of catching.
1. Chapter 1

**As many of you know, I'm going through so much right now but writing has always been my escape. I love writing my AU Daryl/Beth stories so I'm trying to write one. Daryl's POV will be the next chapter.**

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**Chapter One.**

Cornerstone - the first stone set in the construction of a foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.

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"Hello, Dale's Garage. How may I help you?" She answered the ringing phone as she always did and then listened to the person on the other end. "An oil change usually takes thirty to forty minutes. Let me check with one of the mechanics to see if they can fit you in at that time. Hold please."

Beth Greene pressed the hold button on the phone and then stood up from the desk, going to the door at the side of the office that opened into the large garage. A Lynyrd Skynyrd song was blaring over the speakers amongst the chatter and whirring of tools. She looked at the last bay – the furthest from the door – and she saw him leaning under the hood of the car he was working on. She took a deep breath before beginning her walk towards him. Thankfully, none of the other mechanics noticed because if they had, whistles would have followed her.

"Daryl," she said his name, her stomach fluttering when he lifted his head and looked at her, his eyes slightly squinted as if he had never seen her before. There was hair hanging in his eyes and her fingers twisted in the hem of her skirt to stop herself from doing something like reaching out and brushing it away for him. "I have a lady on the phone. Would you have time to do an oil change at one for her? She'll be on her lunch break and only has the hour."

Daryl Dixon looked back to the car he was working on and then to the clock hanging on the wall. Finally, he looked back to her but his eyes only settled on her for a second before looking away from her again.

"Fine," he grunted, turning back towards the car, effectively dismissing her.

Beth turned and hurried back to the office, once again grateful that no one noticed her as she did. She didn't hate her job. Not at all. Dale, her boss, was such a nice man with sparkling eyes and a warm smile and he called her a godsend at least once a day. He was a fair man and paid her what she deserved. But most of the mechanics had a tendency to make her uncomfortable. They all threw her smiles and winks and because of who she was, she smiled faintly in return; too polite to just ignore them though she really just wanted to glare and even flip them off more times than not. But she would never do that because she was Beth Greene and she was a good girl.

Daryl Dixon wasn't like the other mechanics at the garage. He was quiet – practically mute – and he preferred to stay by himself. He never talked to her except one word responses and always said in the most gruff of grunts. She always felt like she was angering him if she even breathed the same air as him for just a second and he did his best to avoid her altogether. She had no idea what she had done to him because most of the time, she swore he hated her.

She returned to the phone call and set the woman's appointment up for one.

She didn't know what it was because he obviously didn't care for her at all but out of all of the mechanics, Daryl was the only one she ever approached to talk to. There was something about him. She didn't know what it was but all she did know was that he didn't scare her or make her nervous. He gave her flutters but she knew what those were even if she wasn't prepared to admit that to herself. They were silly flutters and nothing would ever come on them and she supposed it was natural to have a silly work crush on one of the guys who worked here.

The garage closed at noon for lunch but Beth usually brought her lunch with her and ate at her desk in case the phone rang. All of the guys cleared out at that time so it was just her. And Daryl. Daryl always stayed, too, but he, of course, never came into the office. He always took his lunch break out back where the guys had a picnic table set up and would take their smoke breaks. Beth watched him go out there every day but she never felt the courage to take her lunch back there with him. He would probably stare at her and then get up and leave without saying a word and she didn't want to tick him off or embarrass herself so she always stayed in the office.

Today, she slowly ate her tuna sandwich as she mindlessly played a game of solitaire on the computer and tried not to let her eyes drift towards the window of the garage. He was still in there, finishing work on the car and slamming the hood shut. She watched him tug the red rag from his back pocket and wipe his hands on it and then slipping it back, he then pulled a pack of cigarettes from his other back pocket. He popped a cigarette into his pocket but he didn't light it. His hair was hanging in his eyes again and she wondered how that didn't annoy him. He would sometimes flick his head slightly to get it out of the way but it always fell right back. She wondered why he didn't cut it but at the same time, she liked his longer hair and couldn't imagine him with short hair.

She quickly moved her eyes back to her computer screen when he turned his head and looked towards the office. She could feel his eyes on her through the window and she felt the back of her neck flushing. She wished she didn't have such a reaction when around him and she hoped she wasn't obvious. The last thing she needed was for anyone – especially Daryl – to know of her silly crush on him.

She looked up again when she heard the heavy back door shut and saw that he had gone outside and the garage was now empty. She exhaled a deep sigh. She wished there was some way for her to get over this. She had been working at Dale's for three months now and had probably spoken just ten words – if that many – to Daryl. There was no reason to have a crush on him.

Except his hair and those blue eyes and that scruff on his chin and those arm muscles. Oh goodness, those arm muscles. She had actually had dreams about those arms and him wrapping those arms around her and holding her close to his chest. And just thinking about them now, she felt her throat grow dry. And then she just wanted to smack her head down on the desk because she felt so silly and stupid and he didn't even _look_ at her and she didn't even feel brave enough to talk with him.

She had just finished her sandwich and began on her snap peas when she saw a car pull up to the garage and a woman stepped out with beautiful dark brown curly hair. Beth smiled when the woman entered the office, pulling her sunglasses off and smiling in return when she saw Beth.

"Hi. I'm Karen. I know I'm a little early but I called about an oil change," she said.

"Oh, yes," Beth smiled, standing up. "The mechanic I have you scheduled with just stepped outside. I'll go get him."

Beth stepped from the office, heading across the garage to the back door and just knowing that she was going to be seeing Daryl in just a few seconds, her stomach was already fluttering and she wanted to just sigh and roll her eyes at herself.

Outside, Daryl was leaning against the wall, a cigarette hanging between his lips but the second he heard the door open and saw her, he dropped it to the ground, stubbing it out with the toe of his boot.

She gave him a small smile. "Hi. That one o'clock oil change? She's here a little early."

He nodded and stepped towards her. He reached past her and held the door open and she gave him the same small smile and she ducked inside before he could see the faint blush on her cheeks. He smelled like oil and smoke but like fresh air and soil and it all collided up into her nostrils and she hurried back to the office because all she wanted to do was turn and press her nose to his shoulder so she could inhale.

What the heck was the matter with her? Why was she like this around him?

"Karen, this is Daryl," Beth said, stepping back into the office. "He's going to change your oil for you."

Karen looked past Beth and smiled when she saw Daryl standing in the office doorway. Beth dared a glance at Daryl as she sat back down behind the desk but his face was blank as it always was.

"I'm in the last bay. Swing your car 'round," he grunted at her and Karen nodded, leaving the office to go back to her car.

"Daryl," Beth heard herself blurt out before he could leave.

He looked at her and she looked at him for a moment even though she felt the flush on her cheeks and knew that he could see it, too.

"Wha'?" He asked when she didn't say anything for a passing minute.

She remembered herself and quickly shook her head. "Oh. Sorry. Were you able to eat any lunch? I didn't, I didn't see you… Not that I was watching but I just noticed that you were working through your lunch hour and I, well, I have a bag of chips that I'm not going to be eating so if you want them…"

She swore she could physically feel her foot getting closer to her mouth. Why was she stuttering and babbling and going on like such an idiot? She was a shy woman, yes, but she had never been like this. She had never been completely inept at speaking with another human being. No wonder he always seemed so bothered by her presence around him. He probably thought she was touched in the head.

Daryl kept looking at her and didn't say anything and she held out the bag of potato chips for him to take. After another moment, he reached out and took the bag from her and dipped his head in the slightest of nods.

"Thanks," he grunted and then turned, heading into the garage, the office door closing behind him and Beth exhaled a deep breath.

She turned the chair back towards the desk and she felt like laughing and crying at the same time. She didn't know anything about him. For as much as she knew, he was probably married or in a serious relationship already. He might even be gay. That was how next to nothing she knew about him. All she knew was he wasn't interested in her in the least and she really had to get past this and over him. Of course, it wasn't as if she had come out and told him that she was interested in him.

She casually looked out the window as Karen drove her car into the bay and she stood there, talking with Daryl. Or rather, she was talking and Daryl wasn't saying anything as usual and just listening. She hadn't come right out and said that she was interested in him but she had been obvious. Hadn't she? She stuttered like an idiot and always blushed and could never meet his eyes for too long. That was obvious, wasn't it?

She sighed, looking back to her computer. She had to keep reminding herself. It didn't matter if she was obvious or not. Daryl didn't like her. For whatever reason, he didn't like her and this was all just a silly crush and it didn't mean anything.

She could hear Karen laughing suddenly from the garage and Beth cleared her throat, staring at her computer screen even though her eyes weren't really able to focus on anything at the moment.

Nope. It definitely didn't mean anything.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't even know what to say. I am completely blown away with the response to the first chapter and I'm hoping every chapter from now on doesn't disappoint. Thank you so much for reading and all of the reviews, favorites and alerts! This story is going to alternate POVs with each chapter so next one will be Beth's again. **

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**Chapter Two.**

He had no idea where she came from.

One night, he left the garage after a day's work and she wasn't there and the next morning, she was – sitting behind the desk in the front office in a yellow dress that matched her hair and laughing lightly over something Dale was saying to her that he could hear all the way from his bay. Zach, the annoying kid who worked beside him and always wanted to chat, let out a whistle when he caught his first glimpse of her. And he wasn't the only one. The other mechanics immediately took note of the pretty blonde and all were staring as if they had never seen a woman before.

Daryl felt himself only scowl though. Who was she and what the hell was a girl like that doing here? Dale came out a few minutes later into the garage with her following behind and he introduced her as Beth Greene, telling them that she was their new receptionist. Zach let out another whistle and Beth's cheeks flushed as Dale set a stern glare in the kid's direction.

For the most part, Daryl had very little interaction with her. It wasn't as if he was the only mechanic at Dale's. There were three other guys and she was in charge of setting up all of their appointments – not just his. The most he had to do was after he was finished with a customer, he had to go take the paperwork to her in the office so would be able to run the invoice.

"Thanks, Daryl," she would smile at him and Daryl would just turn and leave again.

Her smile made him too damn nervous. It was too sweet and warm and he didn't get why she would be smiling at him like that. She didn't even know him. Why was she always so damn nice to him? He began to notice though that she smiled at everyone like that. It was just who she was. Everyone got a taste of the sun when she was near. He wasn't anything special – not that he was looking to be.

Girls like that always had boyfriends or at least plenty of boys always tripping over themselves and willing to do anything for her and he could just imagine the trail of saps following after Beth, begging for a scrap of attention. And hell, the other mechanics seemed to be the biggest suckers of all for her.

But deep down, he knew she wasn't like that at all. He saw the way she always looked down to the ground or hurried away when one of the guys gave a whistle or a wink and asked her to go out with them. She always politely declined and excused herself and it was surprising to him to see a girl who looked like her being so shy.

He saw the way she tidied the office after each work day and the fresh flowers she brought in to brighten her desk or the way she was always gently lecturing Dale on taking his medicine for his heart condition. There was a refrigerator in the break room and since Dale hired her, all of the guys found their favorite beverages stocked. Zach and his bottled water because he was some hippie kid who couldn't drink from the water fountain like the rest of them. Martinez liked his Coke and Axel liked his Cherry Coke and Daryl – and he had no idea how she had found out – had always preferred Ginger Ale.

The first time he had opened the refrigerator and saw the green cans on the top shelf with a post-it with his name on it, he had just stared at them for a minute as if he had never seen anything like it before. And for the first few days, he hadn't taken any of them as if they were some sort of trick and the instant he took one of those cans and drank from it, he would instantly be under her spell like every other guy here.

"I can get something else if you'd like," she said to him in that soft, gentle voice of hers one afternoon when he came into the office to hand her his paperwork.

"What?" He grunted at her and he realized he had asked a bit too roughly because she flinched ever so slightly.

"The Ginger Ale… Dale told me you like to drink it but I can get you something else," she offered. She wasn't meeting his eyes and she stood there, looking down at the paperwork in her hands instead.

She was wearing a blue dress that day with a white sweater and her hair was down and long and always in these waves. The sleeves of her sweater were pushed up and he saw that was always wore a bundle of bracelets on her left wrist. She was always so damn pale, too, and he wondered if the Georgia sun had ever touched her skin. He always found himself outside as much as he could manage it and his skin was rough and dark from the exposure. He found himself wondering how soft her skin was.

He shook his head at himself for that asinine thought. "'Ginger Ale's fine," he said, already heading back out of the office, not looking at her again.

When the garage closed for lunch that day, he stayed – as he always did – and took his lunch from the refrigerator so he could go out in the back and eat – as he always did – but this time, and he had no idea why, he took a can of the Ginger Ale with him. And he felt like an idiot – both for having stubbornly refusing a simple can of soda and for finally giving into it.

She always stayed during the lunch hour, too, eating at her desk. Most days, she would be playing music and it was different every day and if he left the heavy back door propped open, he was able to hear her singing along to whatever she was listening to that day. He found himself leaving the door propped open more and more because there was something about her voice. It was the same when she sang as when she talked. It was one of the sweetest sounds he had ever heard.

He ate his sandwich – usually always bologna – and sat there with his head resting against the brick wall behind him and he allowed his mind to go empty as he listened to her sing. They were always songs he had never heard before and he found himself wondering more than once why she was working at some small garage in a small town instead of being in Atlanta or Nashville, singing for a bigger audience than just some mechanic she didn't even know was listening.

He never asked her though because it was none of his business and he didn't really care either because the fact was, she was here and not in one of those big cities and everyone had their reasons for doing what they did.

The garage was open Tuesday through Saturday and closed on Sundays and Mondays and she was almost always one of the last to leave. As soon as Dale closed for the night, Axel and Martinez were always the first gone. Zach lingered just enough to ask Beth if she wanted to go to some party with him – seemed like that kid had a party to go to every single night and every single night, he asked Beth if she wanted to come – but she just smiled and told him she had to get home.

"One of these days, Ms. Greene," he said with a smile and wink and then was gone, leaving her with a stain of pink on her cheeks.

"Alright. Do I have everything?" Dale asked, stepping from his office, patting all of his pockets to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything though they had all noticed that since Beth had started working there, Dale had stopped coming back after already having gotten home because he left his glasses or his keys or one of his pill bottles.

"Here," Beth smiled at him and tonight, she handed him his hat.

He slapped the tattered fisherman's hat on his head and smiled at her. "My angel," he said and she even blushed to what Dale said though the old man probably didn't even know how to flirt with a woman anymore.

And then it was just the two of them. Why was it always the two of them?

Daryl was meticulous in cleaning up his work station and never rushed through it and Beth seemed to be the same way with her desk. During the day, it was covered in papers but every night, she took her time in cleaning it all for the next day's mess.

He heard footsteps and lifted his head from his toolbox, flicking his head to get the hair from his eyes to see her approaching him. The lights in the office were off and her purse was slung on her shoulder.

"I'm heading out now," she said with a small smile. He nodded and didn't say anything. "Good night, Daryl."

She hesitated for another moment, he noticed, but he wasn't looking at her, his eyes back to his tools and he heard her footsteps walk away and the squeak of the door and the slam of it shutting behind her and everything was silent again except for the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.

He didn't know why he was like that around her. Not the silent part. He was damn near silent around everyone. His older brother, Merle, was the loud one – always talking too loud and laughing too loud and demanding to be the center of attention but Daryl had never been like that. Even when he was a little kid and was just learning to talk, he hadn't liked to do it that much. He liked being quiet; liked observing everyone and everything around him because that was the only to learn. To _survive_.

So never talking to Beth wasn't something out of the ordinary. It was the way he actually had to consciously make the effort _not_ to talk to her. She would ask him questions and he found himself actually ready to answer them and he didn't get it nor did he like it. He didn't know what it was about her that made him want to talk.

He barely even talked to the customers who came in here to tell him about their car troubles. He didn't really need to talk to them. He had always been good with engines – a damn gift, as Merle often said while clapping him too hard on the back – and he didn't need the idiot to tell him that they had been driving on an engine that had gone too long without an oil change. He got engines. He understood them. Every problem was different and yet, every engine was the same. May have been in a different type of machine but every engine worked in the same sort of way and he could be blindfolded and still be able to work on it.

People were completely different. No matter how much he watched them, he was never able to fully figure them out. And Beth Greene was the biggest damn mystery of them all because why the hell would a pretty girl like her be shy and quiet and yet, shining like the damn sun on a clear day?

He could admit to himself that she was a pretty girl. Probably the prettiest girl he had ever seen. When he went to a bar with Merle, she was never the girl he saw there. The women there had too much make-up and their clothes were too tight and they smelled of smoke and hairspray and were always looking for someone to take care of them while making it clear that they could cut a man's dick off in a second. They were as rough as any man there – on the inside and out.

But Beth, with her blonde hair and dresses and soft smiles and soft songs, was as bright as the sun and as soft-looking as any cloud and he shook his head at himself and wanted to hit himself over the head with a wrench for such stupid thoughts because while Beth was all of those things, he was the dirty older mechanic who belonged in the bar with women completely opposite of her.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Why do some Carol/Daryl fans have to be so damn rude? **

**I'm writing something for Beth in this story that I have never written for her before and I'm a little nervous as to how it will be received but there's a reason I have chosen to do this. Thank you so, so much for the incredible response in just the first two chapters. I hope you like this chapter just as much. **

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**Chapter Three.**

After getting home from church on Sunday morning, Hershel Greene took himself to the couch on his crutches and as he sat down, Beth made sure he was comfortable and Maggie went into the kitchen to start cooking their breakfast. Shawn sat down in the chair beside the couch and turned on the television because even though the football game didn't start for another four hours, there was the pregame footage beginning already.

"You have everything, daddy?" Beth asked.

"Yes, Bethy, I'm fine," Hershel chuckled. "And if I need anything, I can get it myself."

"I'll take an orange juice, Beth," Shawn grinned at her.

"You have two good legs," she quipped back to him, trying to give him a stern look, but he just kept grinning and she sighed because her brother was absolutely hopeless. She left the two in the living room and after stopping in the hallway to change her shoes from her ballet flats to her Converse sneakers, she went into the kitchen where Maggie was getting the pack of bacon and sausage patties from the refrigerator. "I'm going to go for a walk," she informed her.

Maggie looked at her. "Now? But what about breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," Beth said and the instant she said it, she knew it was the wrong thing to say and she wished she could pluck the words from the air and shove them back into her mouth.

She was never supposed to say those words to her family – especially Maggie. Maggie got so angry and so upset and Beth had to spend days after eating more food than a normal person should ever eat in the first place to put Maggie's mind back at ease. But so much of her life was making sure her family around her was happy and that she didn't do anything to upset them. She had already done so much of the sort and she didn't want to put them through anything else.

"I won't be gone long," Beth quickly amended. "And I'll eat when I get back." Maggie kept looking at her though and not saying anything. "I swear, Maggie. I promise. I'll eat as soon as I get back. I just want to get some fresh air and it's such a beautiful morning." She sometimes forgot that she was a young woman, a twenty-two year old who shouldn't have to explain every action she made. But she supposed she brought some of this upon herself. "I'm not asking for permission," she then felt brave enough to blurt out. She stepped to Maggie and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before hurrying to the back door. "I'll be home soon!" She called over her shoulder and then hurried outside, gasping in the air as if she hadn't taken a breath for the past few minutes – and that was exactly what it felt like.

She swore she could feel Maggie's eyes staring at her backside through the kitchen window but Beth didn't look back. She crossed the back yard and headed straight for the woods. She had no destination and she didn't even think of where she was walking to now but the woods seemed like the perfect place to get away from her sister's hovering. She loved her sister so much. She loved all of her family more than anything in this world and that was why when her daddy had his accident, she came home in an instant, dropping her life in Atlanta to move back to the farm to help her siblings with the financial responsibilities.

But most of the time, no matter how much she tried to prove herself to all of them, she was still that sixteen-year-old girl, cutting at her wrist and starving herself.

She sighed deeply and kept on walking. She reached the small creek and stepped over the water with careful steps on the rocks that were embedded in deeply and which provided the perfect way to get across.

Once over onto the other side, she kept walking further and further away from the farm and a part of her wished she could just keep walking. It wasn't as if she was necessarily needed here. Her daddy may have lost his leg but he was just as capable as before and Maggie and Shawn seemed to have a handle running things and never seemed to really need her. And Dale could always hire someone else to run the front desk at the garage. She could go back to Atlanta and maybe get her old job at the bookshop she had been working at after graduation and playing her music at the coffee shop in her neighborhood on open-mic nights.

She was aware of how painfully shy she was. She always had been. And yet, standing on a small stage, strumming her guitar and singing songs, she had never felt fear or nerves. Performing always gave her a joy that nothing else in her life seemed to.

She heard a slight rustling in the passing brush and she stopped her steps. She finally looked around at her surroundings and after a moment, she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was. She turned in a slow circle, her eyes searching for something that looked familiar but she must have walked so far and with her mind having been a million miles away, she didn't even know which direction she had come from or where the farm was.

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement of a shape and she spun towards it. And when she saw who it was, her heart began hammering for an entirely new reason. She was so glad to see him – to see that it was him and not some stranger.

She opened her mouth to say his name but Daryl quickly but a finger to his lips, silencing her before she could. Her mouth snapped shut and she looked at him, her eyebrows crinkled slightly because she had no idea what he was doing. She watched as he crept out from the trees he had come from, his steps silent, and he was holding a crossbow in his hands, raising it to take aim at something.

She gasped when he suddenly fired and the bolt flew right past her into the brush. Beth quickly spun to see what he had shot and he walked past her, bending down and pulling out a gray rabbit.

"How did you know that was here?" She asked.

He shrugged and pulled the bolt from the rabbit. He hooked the animal onto his belt and then bent down to load his crossbow again. She couldn't help but watch the way his biceps flexed and her throat suddenly felt incredibly dry. It was a cool fall morning and yet, he wore a shirt with no sleeves and with his movements, she saw hints of tattoos he had as well .

"Been trackin' it for a while," he finally said and when he straightened up, he looked at her. "What are you doin' all the way out here, girl?" He asked, looking at her as if she was some sort of puzzle that he didn't have the first clue as how to figure out.

"I was taking a walk and wasn't paying attention to where I was going…" she trailed off, suddenly feeling incredibly embarrassed.

She always felt like she was making a fool of herself when she was around Daryl Dixon. He was just one more person in her life she felt like a little girl around.

"You lost?" He assumed.

She nodded her head and she lowered her eyes from his. She suddenly wished it hadn't been Daryl who had come across her then. She didn't want him to think she was helpless or weak or just some silly girl who got lost in the woods. He seemed to dislike her so much already and she was sure this was going to do nothing to help change his opinion of her.

"Come on. I'll take you back," he grunted and began walking past her.

"No," she quickly said, reaching out to touch his arm. He stopped instantly and looked at her and she felt her cheeks flame, her hand dropping to her side. "I mean… I'm still taking a walk. If you just point me in the general direction of where I should head…" She was proud of herself for being able to keep her eyes on him and her fingers twisted in her dress at her sides.

He looked at her for a moment and she felt her heart drumming so loud in her chest, she wondered if he could hear it. She wouldn't be surprised if he could. Her heart was always beating quickly like this whenever she was around him and there was something about it that excited her.

No one had ever made her react like that before but that first morning when Dale had walked her into the garage and introduced her to the mechanics, she saw Daryl for the first time and she felt her stomach drop to her feet. Just like that. She had heard things like that happening. Had seen enough movies and read enough books but had never dreamt of experiencing that for herself. But the instant she saw Daryl Dixon, she fell for him.

"Not done huntin' yet," he finally spoke in that gruff semi-grunt way of his. "You can come with me if you want. I'll take you back when I'm done."

Beth burst into a smile. "Yes," she eagerly nodded her head and for once, she didn't care how excited or happy or ridiculous she was acting around him.

Walking in the woods with Daryl? Just the two of them? If this was a movie, she would burst out into a random song right now. But thankfully, she was able to control herself as she fell into step beside him. The crossbow was relaxed in his arms but she could see the way he was looking at everything. Nothing was escaping his attention and she wished she could just watch him because she had never been hunting and she had never seen anyone hunt before.

"Do you live around here?" She asked suddenly, seemingly surprising them both.

She wondered if she had wandered that far from the farm without realizing or if he actually lived that close to her and she had no idea.

He nodded and didn't say anything else and she looked at him, waiting for him to though she knew he wasn't going to say anything. She had been working at the garage for three months – had known Daryl for three months – and she wished that had a reason to talk with him past invoices and ginger ale.

But talking with guys had never been a strong suit of hers, her shyness always keeping her to herself and convincing herself that no guy wanted to talk with her anyway. Not for the first time in her life, she wished she was more like Maggie. Maggie was fearless in all things in life – including, _especially_, when it came to guys.

Daryl wasn't just a guy though. He was a man and Beth definitely didn't know the first thing about talking with a man. Especially a man like Daryl because everything about him just seemed so different. He was just as quiet as she was and what could a girl like her talk about with a man like him? Maybe that was the problem. She was still just a girl to him. Maybe that was why he never wanted to make conversation with her while the other mechanics in the shop seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever. Maybe he thought she was just too darn young.

"Wait," he said suddenly, startling her, and then his hand was on her arm this time.

She froze and watched as he crouched down beside her. He was staring down at the ground and she watched him as he brushed some leaves aside. There, very faintly, she could see animal tracks.

"How did you see that?" She asked.

He didn't answer for a moment, still studying them. He then looked ahead and slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. "Jus' read the signs," he shrugged as if what he was doing wasn't something incredible. He looked at her. "Wasn' plannin' on trackin' a buck today though. Was hopin' for another rabbit."

Beth felt disappointment at that but she didn't argue. She imagined how exciting it would be, tracking a deer with Daryl, but she didn't say anything and resumed walking beside him. Hunting another rabbit with him was nothing to scoff about anyway. It was more time spent with him and she couldn't think of any other way she would rather spend her Sunday.

They walked in silence and even though the sun was almost directly above their heads now, she still felt the chill against her bare legs as she still wore her dress from church and she shivered slightly, tightening her cardigan sweater around herself, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Cold?" He grunted. She nodded her head truthfully. It was obvious she was and there was no point in lying about it. "Need to get some more meat on your bones."

Beth knew he didn't mean anything by it. How could he? It was just an innocent comment. But it was a comment she had been hearing for years and she had never expected that Daryl, too, would say it.

She sighed heavily. "I'm ready to go home now," she said, glancing at him for only a second before down to the ground. "Could you walk me home?"

She didn't want to stop spending time with him that day and yet, that one sentence from him had made her even colder. Daryl saw her as all of her family and friends did. She had tried to kill herself and she had spent years starving herself, only now, finally, on the road to recovery.

She had known it but she hadn't wanted to admit it to herself but that's all she was to anyone. And that's all she would ever be.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**After last night's episode, I really need something good to happen in the season finale or else, I think I'm going to stop being in love with this show. I've reached the point where I don't like ninenty-nine percent of the characters or don't care about them and it's hard to be invested in a show where you only like two or three characters out of a cast of twenty. **

**On another note, THANK YOU so, so much for the incredible response you have been giving this story. As you can tell from the last chapter, I'm trying a few different things and I'm eager to write what I have planned. **

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…

**Chapter Four. **

Daryl had no idea what had happened but if she wanted to go home, he would take her, and he walked in the direction of the Greene farm. And though she was walking right next to him, he felt like she was a thousand miles away and he found himself glancing over to her from time to time to make sure that she was okay though it was obvious even to a guy like him that she wasn't. He just wasn't going to ask her about it. If she wanted to say anything, she would and he wasn't going to bother her for it.

They came across the small creek and Beth stepped ahead of him. He watched as she used the rocks, moving from one to the next with no problem. She almost looked graceful as she did it and came to the bank on the other side. A slight breeze blew the skirt of the dress she was wearing and Daryl quickly looked away when he saw more of her pale thighs than he ever had before and he felt the tips of his ears go red as he quickly followed her path across the rocks and came to stand beside her.

Through the trees, they could see the white farmhouse in the distance.

"You good?" Daryl asked, preparing to turn and walk back in the direction they had just come from and yet, he lingered. Why the hell he was doing that, he didn't know.

He didn't know what had caused the change. She had seemed happy enough just a few minutes earlier and then like a flick of a switch, she had changed completely and he found himself standing there, studying her as if she was an animal he was tracking. Out here, he felt brave enough to look at her as he looked at anything that was in the woods. Out here, he felt a comfort and ease he never had anywhere else.

She wore a dress with flowers printed all over it that swept the skin above her knees and she wore Converse sneakers on her feet. She had a gray sweater on that she hugged tightly to herself and he wondered how many of those sweaters she had because she seemed to always be wearing one in every color there was. And her hair was thrown up in a ponytail, a braid amongst it. Her hair was long and wavy and so blonde and so shiny, sometimes, when Daryl dared himself to, he would admit to no one except in his brain that her hair was probably his favorite thing about her.

She looked at him with those big blue eyes of her and nodded though he didn't believe for one second that she actually was good. He still had no idea why her mood has switched so suddenly. She then slowly turned her head and looked towards her house, a small sigh exhaling past her lips.

"You okay?" He asked before he could stop himself from doing so.

She nodded and crossed her arms over herself even tighter. She kept her eyes looking towards the house. "My sister is going to smother me when I get in there."

"Literally?" He raised an eyebrow at that and she looked back at him, smiling faintly.

"No," she shook her head a little. "It's just the way Maggie is. It will feel like she is. I can't take a walk without her wanting to put a bell around my neck."

"Wasn' exactly walkin' earlier. Gettin' lost is more like it," he pointed out to her.

She kept smiling that small smile of hers and she shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't lost. You found me."

He wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure what to say to any of this. So he was quiet and found himself still looking at her. He had never talked to her like this before. He usually just grunted or didn't say anything at all and didn't go into the office where she was unless he absolutely had to. He tried to tell himself that he didn't like her. Too pretty and too kind and there had to be something seriously wrong with her because no one that good on the outside was good on the inside. And when it was revealed just what was wrong with her and her true nature was shown, he didn't want to be anywhere near her.

And remembering that, he was finally able to take a step back. "Think you can manage walking from here? Or think you'll get lost with your house in plain sight?"

She looked at him for a moment at his words and he just frowned back, wondering why the hell she was looking at him and what she was seeing.

"I can manage," she finally said, her voice almost too soft to hear clearly. "Thank you for walking me back, Daryl."

He didn't say anything – just gave his usual grunt – before turning and beginning to walk into the woods and fighting everything inside of himself that told him to look back at her over his shoulder. He didn't want to look back and he wasn't going to. She wasn't his concern. She had gotten lost and he had walked her back to the farm and that was that. He would see her at the garage tomorrow and he wouldn't talk to her and it was how things were always going to be. It was how he wanted it to be.

Knowing that he was finished with hunting for the day, he began heading in the direction of home.

He almost sighed with longing. Home. He knew what most people thought about those who lived in trailers but Daryl had never really cared what people thought about him. He was a Dixon. He was used to everyone always talking shit about him and his family, whether they knew anything or not. And most of the time, they didn't. He knew most people wouldn't be surprised to find out that Daryl Dixon lived in a trailer. After all, he had been called trailer trash for his entire life.

But they didn't know that he lived in a trailer in the woods at the very edge of his boss's property. Dale owned quite a bit of land – his land bordering the Greene farm – and he had found out that Daryl wasn't really living anywhere, just kind of drifting from one motel room to the other and Dale told him that he had an old trailer he could have if he wanted. Daryl had been skeptical at first. He had seen Dale's RV parked in the lot behind the garage and it was a piece of shit but Dale had assured him that this wasn't the RV. This was a trailer – small and old – but still in good shape. It was his if he wanted it. And not only could he have the trailer, he could have a bit of the woods to live in if he wanted, too.

Daryl had almost refused the offer at first. He was a Dixon and they didn't accept help from anyone. But Dale had taken him to see the trailer and Daryl had stood there, staring at it, and he realized that he had never had a place of his own. He had lived with his parents before the fire and then him and his old man lived in a shitty apartment before Merle came and he began following his older brother everywhere. He had never lived on his own and he stared at the secluded trailer in the middle of the quiet woods – Dale's house about two miles away – and he found himself nodding his head. Yeah, he wanted this.

He came upon it now and unlocked the front door before stepping in, closing and locking the door again behind him. He took a deep breath at the quiet that surrounded him. There were few things he liked in this world more than quiet.

He set his crossbow down, leaning it against the wall beside the door and went to the refrigerator, sticking the rabbit in the refrigerator to be cleaned later. He turned and washed his hands in the sink and then went to the small bedroom in the back of the trailer, sitting down on the bed and untying his boots, kicking them off before falling back and lying down, blinking up at the ceiling.

It was cold in the trailer and he had a space heater he made sure to always unplug when he left but he didn't plug it back in now to heat up the room. He would but right now, he didn't want to get up to do it. He wanted to keep lying there for just a few minutes more and it seemed like the more he told himself not to, the more he kept thinking about Beth.

Beth. He wanted to snort at himself. He had no reason whatsoever to be thinking about her. And he wasn't even thinking of anything in particular. Just her hair and her smile and those damn eyes of hers. When he had come upon her in the woods, he had been surprised but only for a moment. He reminded himself that her dad's woods and Dale's woods converged together and she had as much right to be in them as he did; probably even more right than him.

But he went into the woods to be by himself and Beth Greene being in front of him, it just ruined his day because when she was around, he couldn't concentrate on anything else. He tried. In the garage, he tried to ignore her very existence because if he didn't, he didn't know how he would get any of his work done. She mixed him all up and he hated not being in control of himself.

The other mechanics all flirted with her and she smiled politely but let them know in a few words that she wasn't interested. He was the only one she seemed to go out of her way to talk with and he had no idea why. It wasn't like he was dropping hints to her that that was what he wanted her to do. He didn't want her smiles and gentle voice and soft songs. He wanted her to just stay away from him.

So why couldn't he stop thinking about her right now?

He was pathetic – that was why – and he almost wished Merle was here to smack the back of his head to snap him out of this. Whatever the hell this was.

…

Every morning, he was always the first one to arrive at the garage. After he had been there for three months and had to keep sitting out in the parking lot, waiting for Dale to get there to let him in, Dale finally just gave him his own key and had him open up for the day. He was the only mechanic to have his own key but he didn't see the big deal about it. Dale just liked that he got there early to start working and he liked Dale and respected the man. He wouldn't feel right if Dale was paying him for showing up late and leaving early and taking too many smoke breaks in between.

He got there around seven and Beth was usually the second person to arrive. He had opened all of the bay doors when she pulled up in her four-door blue sedan that he knew was actually her dad's. He pretended not to watch her as she got out and she was wearing another damn dress – this one yellow like her hair and white sweater and he wondered why she had to wear dresses every damn day.

"Good morning, Daryl," she said and he lifted his eyes to see her coming right to him, a box in her hands. "I bought donuts for everyone this morning. Would you like one?" With that, she flipped the lid open and he saw the donuts in neat rows within and as if on a cue, his stomach growled loud enough for both of them to hear.

He looked at her but she didn't say anything. Just kept holding the box with that smile of hers and he wanted to snap at her to stop smiling like that around him.

"Thanks," he grunted out as he took a glazed and a chocolate frosted.

"You're welcome," she smiled – always smiling – and then turned, heading into the office and he quickly looked away so he wouldn't watch the way her hair bounced down her back or the way her skirt swished with each step.

_Pathetic_, his brother taunted in his head and Daryl took a big bite of the glazed donut and agreed.

Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched screech from the office that carried out into the garage and he didn't even hesitate as he went rushing towards it.

"Beth?" He burst through the door and saw her standing pressed against the wall, her face more pale than usual. "What is it?"

She swallowed and pointed towards her desk. "I felt… something brushed against me ankle," she said and he could see that she was trembling slightly.

"Here," Daryl handed her the two donuts he was still holding and then slowly approached her desk, instantly sliding into hunter mode.

His eyes searched beneath the piece of furniture for a few minutes and when he saw it, he couldn't help but smirk a little. He moved slowly and scooped up the grey mouse that was just as scared as Beth, pressing himself again the leg of the desk and practically trembling itself.

"You can breathe again, girl," he said, standing up. "Got your ferocious beast right here," he held out his hands so she could see.

He expected Beth to screech again or yell at him to kill it but instead, Beth saw it and sighed deeply and then laughed softly.

"It scared me," she then stated the obvious. "But it's so cute."

"It ain't cute," Daryl couldn't help but frown. "It's a mouse."

"An adorable mouse," she was almost giggling now and she leaned in closer, looking at the small animal in his palms, smiling as the mouse twitched its nose at her. She then looked at him and her eyes were practically sparkling. "It kind of looks like you," she then smiled and Daryl felt his scowl deepen.

"How the hell can a mouse look like me?" He asked, forgetting all of the vows he had had made to himself about not talking to her and staying the hell away from her.

She laughed a little. "It just does. Do you think I could keep it?" She then asked and he looked at her and she just looked so damn hopeful as if she was waiting for him to say no; as if he had any right to say no to her about anything.

He shrugged. "Your mouse. Can do what you want with it," he said.

Beth was practically beaming now. "I need a box. Do you think there's a box around here somewhere?"

Daryl heard himself sigh heavily. He couldn't quite believe he was doing this but he gestured Beth to put the donuts down and once she did, he passed her the mouse. She held it as delicate as she would an egg and without a word, he turned and went back into the garage. He only searched for a moment before he came back to her, a small empty cardboard box in his hand that a car part had come in the other day. When he came into the office and she saw what he was holding, she burst into a smile. Without a word, he set the box down on the desk and then turned, going into the employee bathroom to wash his hands.

When he came out again, she smiled at him and slipped past him to wash her hands as well. He looked down at the mouse in the box, sitting there, his whiskers twitching, and Daryl shook his head at the stupidity of this all before taking his two donuts once more. He turned his head when Beth came from the bathroom and she smiled the instant their eyes locked.

"I'm going to take him out and let him loose in the barn. He'll love it there," she said.

Daryl didn't say anything. He had decided he was done talking with her. He had already reached his quota with her. Hell, he was good for at least the next month.

And with the decision made, he turned and left the office, not looking back to her.

"Thank you, Daryl," Beth called after him softly but he kept walking as if he hadn't heard, heading straight to his bay where he would stay there the rest of the day.

Every time he did look up for the rest of the day, his eyes would slowly drift towards the office no matter how loudly he yelled at himself not to look. And it seemed like every time he did look, he saw Beth looking towards the box and the mouse within and he had never seen anyone with a prettier smile. He knew it was useless to try and convince himself that he didn't like seeing that smile.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I was going to wait and post this tomorrow but I just love this chapter so much and was eager to share it with all of you. **

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**Chapter Five. **

Another fight. Another stupid fight that hadn't been much of a fight since it was just Maggie yelling and crying and Beth standing there as she always did, not saying anything in defense of herself. Her daddy had tried to get them both to just calm down and go in their separate corners for a while. For Maggie, that meant stomping around the house, yelling at daddy for not doing more and for Beth, that meant leaving the house as quickly as she could.

She walked past the barn, considering for a moment to take her horse, Nelly, for a ride but she didn't want to spare the time to saddle her up. She wanted to just get as far as she could in that moment and she didn't want to linger. She kept walking and slipped into the woods and tried to keep from crying as she walked without a destination in mind or looking to where she was going.

It seemed like all Maggie did these days was yell at her. If she had known that coming back to the farm from Atlanta would just be a constant punching bag for all of her sister's fears and frustrations, she would have told her daddy that he had Maggie and Shawn and he didn't need her, too. But Beth loved her family more than anything and would do anything for them so when Shawn called, asking her to move back home and help with both daddy and the bills, she had done just that without a second thought.

No matter how much she ate, no matter how many pounds she gained back, none of it was ever good enough for Maggie. All Maggie saw whenever she looked at her was a younger girl in a blue hospital gown, a bandage around her wrist and food having to be pumped into her veins through an IV. Beth knew she was still sick – she would always be sick and battling this disease – but she was better. Truly, she was. Maggie just didn't want to see it. When Maggie had asked her what she had eaten for lunch, Beth had thought that Maggie had been asking just to ask and she had truthfully responded rice and some strawberries. Maggie had exploded though because to her, that wasn't nearly enough.

It was never enough.

And Beth was just so tired of never being able to please her older sister in anything she did. She loved Maggie so much. She had always looked to her sister as one of her best friends but she knew Maggie looked to her as nothing more than a burden she always had to take care of even though Beth never asked her to.

She couldn't stop the tears once the first few escaped her eyes and they streamed now in great torrents down her cheeks, sobs ripping from her throat, and she kept walking, leaves crunching beneath her feet, stepping over fallen tree limbs.

She didn't look to where she was going and she knew she was going to get lost again but she didn't care. Anywhere she wound up would be better than being home right now. Her daddy and Shawn trusted her when she said she ate so why couldn't Maggie? Was she forever just going to be sixteen whenever Maggie looked at her?

When she heard thunder rumbling off in the distance, she finally lifted her head and looked at her surroundings. Just as she suspected, she recognized absolutely nothing. She turned in a slow circle as if that would magically help her point herself in the right direction but she saw nothing that sparked her recognition and when she heard the thunder again, it seemed to be growing even closer. She looked up and saw the gray clouds moving in and she sighed to herself. Of course she would get lost when a rainstorm was about to hit.

She kept walking in the direction she was facing even though she didn't know if this was the right way or not – she doubted it – and as she looked ahead, she saw something white through the trees. She walked a little quicker and couldn't help but sigh with relief when she saw that it was a trailer – a familiar pickup truck parked out in front of it. She stopped for a moment, looking at it. Just a simple white trailer with an awning over the front door, a front deck built onto it with a lawn chair. There was a shed built off to the side, the door closed and locked with a heavy padlock. That must be where he kept his motorcycle.

A crash of thunder seemingly directly overhead made her jump and she hurried from the trees and up the steps just as the first drops of rain began to fall. She knocked on the trailer's door, hoping he was home. And if he wasn't, she hoped he wouldn't mind if she stood on his porch until the storm passed.

She knocked again and heard movement from inside and when the door opened, even though she knew it was his trailer the instant she saw the truck, seeing Daryl on the other side of the screen door made her feel a rush of relief.

"Beth?" He frowned as if he wasn't trusting that his eyes were really seeing her.

"Hi," she greeted lamely. Through the door, she saw him wearing jeans and a flannel shirt and he looked so relaxed and handsome, she suddenly seemed to realize that she was standing at Daryl Dixon's front door. Her heart began skipping beats. "I was walking and I got lost…"

He looked like he wanted to smirk and he shook his head. "Bad habit you got goin' on there, girl," he said.

"I know," she nodded, almost smiling herself. "I'm sorry to impose but do you think I could come in? Just for a little bit until the storm passes?"

He stood there and she felt herself holding her breath. There was no way he was going to let her in and she felt like an idiot for even thinking of asking the question, let alone actually giving it voice.

But then he reached his arm out and unlocked the door, pushing it open. Beth gave him a grateful smile as he stepped aside so she could enter the small, warm trailer and he locked and closed both doors again behind her.

The clouds above seemed to open and within seconds, rain pounded on the trailer roof loudly. She couldn't help but look around – the worn yet comfortable-looking brown couch and brown recliner. The old television on a simple small table. The simple blue rug beneath her feet. Everything was in shades of browns and greens and blues and being in his house was like being out in the woods. It was all so clean and tidy and that didn't surprise her considering she watched him every day at the garage cleaning up his station long after all of the other guys had left.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a small smile, tightening the sweater around her.

"Cold?" He asked.

"I'm always cold," she smiled a little easier now.

"Noticed that," he nodded.

He moved past her and she watched as he went to the couch where he had a green knit blanket folded over the back of it. Without a word, he shook it out and then handed it to her.

She was surprised for a moment and she knew that he probably saw that but he didn't say anything about it. "Thank you," she said again and taking the blanket, she wrapped it around herself. "It's so warm."

"My friend, Carol, made it for me. I'll let her know you said that," Daryl said and then moved past her, stepping to the stove.

Friend Carol. Beth was not going to jump to conclusions even as she felt her stomach plummet to her feet. Friend. Maybe she really was just a friend. And if she wasn't, if she was something more, it didn't really matter because Daryl didn't even like her, Beth had to remind herself. She was just the girl who worked at the garage and who somehow annoyed him even though she could never think of anything she had ever actually done to him that would make him dislike her so much.

She couldn't quite believe that he had let her into his home and she was now standing here with one of his blankets wrapped around her shoulders. Everything smelled like him. Like leather and soap and the earth. She stood there and kept waiting for herself to wake up. Maybe she had tripped out there somewhere in the woods and was lying unconscious.

"Do you have a phone?" She asked him suddenly. "I want to let my daddy know that I'm somewhere safe and that I'm alright."

Daryl didn't say anything. He turned and went into what she assumed was the bedroom in the back and then came back with a scratched and beaten looking flip phone. He handed it to her without a word and then went back to the stove, where he was stirring something in a pot.

"Thank you," she said softly once more before dialing home.

"Beth?" Shawn answered after the first ring. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I walked to a friend's house. I'm going to stay here until the storm passes," Beth replied back. "Don't worry."

"I'm sorry about earlier," Shawn said. "Maggie's sorry, too."

"It's not your fault, Shawn, and I actually doubt that Maggie's sorry. I'll go back home and the two of us will pretend that nothing ever happened and that's how it always is with her. She'll be yelling at me about food again tomorrow and we all know it."

Shawn sighed but didn't say anything. "You swear you're fine?"

"I'm fine. I'll be home soon," she said and with that, she slapped the phone shut, ending the call. She wasn't angry at Shawn but she didn't want to talk to her brother either, right now. She didn't want to talk to any member of her family right now.

She slid the phone onto the small eating table and tightened the blanket around her. The wind was howling against the sides of the trailer and the rain was falling harder. She looked to Daryl, knowing he had obviously heard every word she said, but he was still stirring and he was acting as if she wasn't even there. She had no idea what to do with herself.

Something caught her eye on the end table beside the couch and she looked at him before curiosity overtook her and she went to the books he had stacked there. She didn't mean to snoop but they were out in the open and he could clearly see what she was doing. If he didn't want her to look, he would have told her so already.

They were all hardback books with the cover art looking like they all were editions printed in the sixties and seventies. _Frankenstein_, _To Kill a Mockingbird_, _The Red Badge of Courage_ and _The Crucible_. She had read all of these in high school but she didn't say that and she didn't ask why he was reading these. She put the books down and slowly turned back towards him.

"You hungry?" He asked, breaking the silence in a lull between thunder bursts. "It's nothin' special. Just some rabbit stew," he said.

"Is that the rabbit you got when I was with you?" She asked, taking a step forward.

He nodded and reached up into a cabinet, taking down two plastic bowls even though she didn't say she would have any.

"Thank you but I'm alright. I had lunch a little while ago and I'm still full," she said.

That made him look at her and after a minute, he snorted and shook his head, turning back towards the stove. Beth felt a familiar bristle on the back of her neck.

"What?" She dared to ask.

Daryl just shook his head and took one of the bowls, ladling a large helping of the stew from the pot. He then grabbed a spoon and sat down at the table, all without saying anything. He glanced at her for a moment before smirking and shaking his head again, looking down to the stew as he began to eat.

"What?" She asked again, almost demanding it now, feeling herself getting angry.

She had just gotten this from Maggie. She didn't need this from him, too.

He shrugged, looking at her again. "Nothin'," he said though it was clearly something and she stood there, her jaw set and her eyes glaring at him. "If you wanna starve yourself, that's your business."

"I'm not starving myself!" She snapped at him.

"Not now or not anymore?" He was smirking again and she was becoming so infuriated by everything. That smirk and that look on his face like he knew exactly what he was talking about and he seemed to enjoy getting under her skin right now.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Daryl Dixon," she vocalized and her fingers tightened into the blanket so tightly, she felt her knuckles strain at the force.

She wished it wasn't pouring out so she could storm right out of his stupid trailer and get away from his stupid smirk.

Daryl nodded and ate another spoonful. "You're right. I don't. Ain't blind though."

And he was quiet after that. She stood there and watched him as he ate and the only sound was the rain pounding the roof over their heads. She still couldn't quite believe that she was in Daryl's home and now, to add to it, she couldn't believe that he had talked to her and she had talked back to him like she had. He deserved it though because he didn't know what he was talking about. No one knew. It was a small town, yes, and she knew that everyone thought they knew but they didn't. Not really. None of them knew her. Especially Daryl Dixon.

After another few minutes and she realized he wasn't going to say anything else, she slowly felt the tension in her shoulders start to ebb away. She loosened the death grip she had on the blanket and she felt the pressure ease in her chest as she began to breathe again. Slowly, she moved and eased herself into the bench seat across from him. He took another spoonful of stew into his mouth and then looked at her.

She looked at him and the thumping of her heart resumed. She was sitting in Daryl's trailer at his table with him right across from her. She could see the blueness of his eyes and the slight bags beneath his eyes as if he never got enough sleep and that one strand of hair that always seemed to hang in his face. And as she looked at him and her heart thumped, her stomach flipped and she knew she would probably never have this opportunity again. But she couldn't think of anything to say. Not a single thing and she knew Daryl wasn't going to take the silence and fill it.

"I was in the hospital for a while and then a special clinic for… for people like me," she heard herself say and Daryl slowly lifted his eyes to look at her. She told herself she didn't want to look at him but she couldn't bring herself to look away. She saw no judgment on his face. No pity either. "I'm not cured. I'll…" she swallowed. "I'll never be cured. But I'm better."

She looked at him and felt herself holding her breath again as she waited for him to say something. She didn't know why she told him that. She never told anyone. All he did was stand up though and she watched as he went to the stove, ladling himself another helping of rabbit stew. She watched as he then picked up the second bowl and ladled a helping into that one and he came back to the table, placing the other bowl in front of her without a word. He sat down and began eating again and Beth stared down at the steaming stew now sitting in front of her.

And she had no idea why after a moment, she picked up the spoon beside the bowl and she dunked it into the stew. She blew on it before guiding it into her mouth. She let the taste settle over her tongue – meat and vegetables – and she lifted her eyes. He wasn't looking at her but he must have felt her eyes on him because he lifted his own then and they looked at one another.

She gave a small smile. "It's really good."

Daryl nodded and gave a shrug. "It's a'right."

She gave him another small smile as she took another spoonful.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I can't tell you how much I love writing this story. **

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**Chapter Six. **

Beth Greene was asleep. On his couch in his trailer as if she belonged there. She had only been there for a couple of hours but already, he could smell her everywhere.

After she had eaten a bowl of the stew and had complimented him yet again on how delicious it was, she offered to help him clean up but he just shook his head, telling her he'd take care of it. The rain continued outside, thunder rumbling and now crashes of lightning and every time it did, Beth jumped slightly.

"You scared of storms?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. It's just in here, it sounds like it's right on top of us," she said, looking up to the ceiling as she spoke. "I like it in here," she then said and Daryl couldn't help but frown a little at that.

"Why?" He asked.

She shrugged and looked at him with a small smile, her cheeks tinted pink as if she was embarrassed. "It's cozy. I've never had my own space like this before. You're lucky. Your very own place that's just yours."

Daryl shrugged, too, silently agreeing with her. It was nice. He liked coming here after work and being _home_. Just him and his stuff with no one yelling or breaking something or making him uncomfortable just by being in their presence. It may have been a trailer but it was his trailer and it was nice and dry and clean. It was perfect.

"Your house is big," he felt the need to point out to her. "Can't find space in there for yourself?" He took the bowls and spoons to the sink and turned on the water to hot.

Beth shook her head, slowly lowering herself down onto the couch as if unsure whether or not she could do that. "I lived in Atlanta for a little bit but I had a couple of roommates. And then, coming home… my sister thinks she needs to babysit me."

Daryl wasn't sure what to say to that so he didn't say anything. He grabbed the dish liquid soap and squirted a drop into the sink so he could soak and wash the dishes. He turned back to the stove and grabbed a plastic container from the cabinet overhead, beginning to scoop out the rest of the stew and save it for leftovers. He'd probably take it to the garage tomorrow for lunch.

He had the fleeting image of Beth being there with him and as soon as it entered his head, he shook it out again because it was completely asinine. Beth Greene living in a trailer? Beth Greene living in a trailer with him? He almost snorted. Everyone knew her old man – Hershel Greene – a successful vet who owned a successful farm. Beth had been born into a good family and had a good life. A girl like Beth didn't take the steps down to live in a trailer with some redneck like him.

And it wasn't as if he _wanted_ her to live in this trailer with him. Why the hell would he want that? There was only one bedroom; a bathroom nothing more than the size of a closet. They would be living right on top of each other and it wasn't as if they were together. Far from it. He knew he had something of a crush on her but he was probably going to always keep that to himself because he didn't have the right to have anything towards her. Not a girl like her. He was some dirty high-school dropout mechanic who lived in a trailer and she obviously had her own problems but she was still too good for a guy like him.

He turned back to the sink and began washing the dishes and when he was done, he looked over to see her still on the couch. But instead of sitting, she was now laying down. He turned off the water, put the bowls in the drying rack beside the sink and dried off his hands before going to the couch.

He stood there for a moment as if he didn't really understand what he was looking at but Beth Greene was lying on his couch and she was asleep. He frowned but he didn't wake her. There was no reason to. The storm was still raging and if he did wake her up, what would they do? Talk? He made sure the blanket was covering her because the trailer was feeling a little chilly to him and he didn't want her to be cold. He then took the book at the top of the stack from the table beside the couch before slowly sitting down in the recliner chair, moving as if he didn't want to make too much noise that might disturb her.

He leaned back and turned on the lamp beside the chair, creating a soft glow in the small space and it cast upon Beth's peaceful sleeping face. He found himself watching her for a minute before he forced his eyes away and he opened the book. He wasn't even halfway through _Frankenstein_ yet and he wanted to make a dent in it that afternoon. He had seen her looking at the books earlier but she hadn't asked about it and he definitely wasn't going to explain why he was reading them.

She didn't need to know that Carol – who worked at the library – had seen these books in the library's book sale room and gotten them for him because they were required reading for high school students and Daryl had never read them himself the sporadic times he had attended class. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to read them now. Carol had smiled and mentioned bettering himself but that had just made him scowl before muttering a thanks for the books and taking them home.

He tried to concentrate on the words in front of him but he kept looking over to Beth, sleeping on his couch as if she took naps there all of the time. He didn't want to think about how natural or comfortable she looked. Or how pretty. It blew his mind how pretty Beth Greene was. Sometimes, in the garage, his eyes would trail towards the office and he would look at her through the window as she sat at her desk and he felt like he was doing something wrong; that someone was going to call him out on it because he had absolutely no business looking at Beth.

He had heard things about her. It was a small Southern town and there seemed to be rumors about everyone. That was why he hadn't ever really listened to anything. But hearing her on the phone with her brother, and hearing what she had said, he had figured it out pretty fast. Those weren't just rumors.

He personally couldn't understand it. Why someone would willingly starve themselves was beyond him. When he was a kid, he remembered the only meal he sometimes got was from the free lunch he would get at school. He knew what it was like going to sleep with nothing in his stomach and he couldn't believe anyone would want to actually feel like that when they had food right at their fingertips.

He tried to focus on the book again though he realized he had been on the same page for quite some time and none of the words were settling in his mind. When he looked at her again, her eyes were open and she was looking at him.

"I fell asleep," she said in a soft voice.

"Yeah," he said because he didn't know what else to say.

"I'm sorry about that," she said and sat up, smothering a yawn behind her hand. "It's lessened a little bit," she said, turning and looking out the window behind the couch, seeing the rain had gone down to just a gentle fall.

Daryl nodded and he ignored the disappointment bubbling in his stomach. "You wan' me to take you home now?" He asked.

"Not really, if I can be honest." She looked back to him. "But I know you want your home back."

He shrugged. "Don't really matter to me," he said truthfully and he wondered why it didn't matter because he had been trying so hard for the past three months to always keep distance between himself and this girl and now, he actually didn't care that she was in his home, making the air smell like her?

She looked at him as if she was surprised and confused as well but then she gave a small smile, her eyes lowering down to her hands in her lap and he noticed the faint pink on her cheeks. He exhaled a breath. Damn this girl. It would all be so much easier to avoid her if she wasn't so pretty or so genuinely nice and reminded him of something sweet.

"Are you liking it?" She asked him and for a second, he had no idea what she was talking about. But then he saw her eyes glance down to the book in his hands before back to his face.

"Oh," he said and then after a moment, he shook his head. "Not really," he answered truthfully and watched as a shy smile bloomed across her face.

"I liked it but I didn't love it," she said. "I think you would really like Jack London."

Daryl didn't want to admit to her that he didn't know who that was but it seemed like she had already suspected that. Her smile wasn't cruel or judgmental.

"He wrote _The Call of the Wild _and _White Fang_," she said. "A real outdoorsman."

Daryl grunted something but didn't say anything and she didn't anything else either. He closed the book and tossed it onto the couch cushion beside her before standing up, his knees cracking.

"Want somethin' to drink?" He asked, already heading towards the refrigerator.

"Yes, please," she said. She stood up and he watched as she folded the blanket carefully, draping it over the back of the couch where he had first gotten it.

He pulled out two fruit punch juice boxes from the refrigerator and handed her one. She didn't say anything but he could see her looking at it, confused and surprised. He told himself that it was none of her damn business and if she didn't want it, she didn't have to drink it but he tore the plastic around the straw and heard himself explaining it to her anyway.

"When I was a kid, I always wanted juice boxes. Never got 'em though," he said. He stabbed the straw through the top of the box and then turned, leaning against the counter, watching her as she tore at the plastic and inserted the straw much more gently than he had. "Got to be makin' my own money and I realized I could buy anything I damn well pleased," he said.

"I think I'm like that with chocolate. Hershey's chocolate has always been my favorite." She leaned against the counter across from him and smiled, taking a sip. "I think this is one of the best afternoons I've had in my life," she then said and he snorted at that.

"You must lead a pretty damn borin' life," he replied.

She shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips around the straw, taking a drink. "I don't know. I like your life, Daryl Dixon," she then told him in a soft voice, her eyes hesitantly looking over to him.

He frowned though. "Don't know what the hell you're talkin' 'bout," he said and finished the juice box, tossing it into the trash can. "Come on. I'll take you home."

And without waiting for her, he grabbed the keys to his truck from the bowl on the counter and went outside, pushing the door open harder than necessary. He waited for her in the truck and he watched as she came out, closing the trailer door behind her. She hurried through the rain still falling and climbed into the truck beside him.

Neither of them said a word as he drove them back to her farm and he pulled the truck to a stop next to the front porch steps. Beth turned her head and looked up at the house and Daryl looked, too, seeing that a woman with short brown hair was standing past the screen door. He then looked to Beth and saw that way she seemed to deflate, her lips downturned in a frown. She looked at him and did her best to give him a smile though it didn't reach her eyes.

"Thank you for everything this afternoon, Daryl," she said.

And he heard himself say "Anytime," before he could stop himself. While he couldn't quite believe himself that he had just said to her, he looked at her and didn't necessarily feel like he should take it back.

She gave him another smile now – this one coming a little easier – and she then eased out of the truck. He sat there and watched as she hurried out of the rain and up the steps. He assumed the other woman was her sister and she pushed the door open, saying something to her as Beth brushed past her into the house. Daryl sat there and almost felt bad for taking her back home so soon.

The next morning, he was the first to arrive at that garage as usual but after only an hour of work, Dale had him take the tow truck to go pick up a stranded motorist who's engine had crapped out on them.

Back to the garage, the driver went into the office to speak with Dale and Beth would be in charge of assigning the car to whichever mechanic had the time but Daryl knew it wasn't going to be him and he returned to his bay. Before he returned his head to under the hood of the car he was working on, something on his toolbox caught his attention. He looked and saw that it was a book, the breeze blowing that day rustling the pages. He frowned as he went to it. It hadn't been there when he had left. He picked it up and looked down to the front cover. _White Fang_.

His eyes instantly lifted and he looked to the office but Beth was still talking with the customer. Daryl looked down to the paperback and flipped it over to read the summary. He admitted, this sounded much better to him than the other books he was trying to read right now. Again, he looked towards the office and this time, Beth was back by herself, typing something down in the computer. But it was as if she could feel his eyes on her because she turned her head then and instantly met his eyes through the glass, across the garage.

He held up the book and was the one to smile first at her – just a small one but a smile nonetheless. And Beth beamed back.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I can't tell you how much I love writing this story and I'm so excited to write Daryl's POV in the next chapter. Beth and Daryl are finally taking steps but this is still a slow-burn story. **

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**Chapter Seven. **

She wasn't sure exactly how it happened. She had loaned him a copy of the book, yes, but from there, they had silently developed this sort of thing between them and she wasn't quite sure where it came from.

One day, a few days after she gave him the book, she got to the garage in the morning and sitting down at her desk, she saw a Hershey chocolate bar sitting right on her computer's keyboard. She looked at it for a moment as if she wasn't quite sure it was real and when her hand reached out and her fingers touched it, she felt a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth and her heart skipped a few beats within her chest. She looked through the window to see Daryl at his bay, getting his station ready for the first car but he didn't look over to her and she didn't go up to him to thank him, thinking he might not want the attention.

The next day, when he had gone out back for a smoke break, she had gone to his tool box and hidden a juice box in one of the drawers, hurrying back to the office before he – or any of the other mechanics – could spot her. She knew he would find it eventually but she didn't look at him and he didn't come to her to thank him.

It became an occurrence between them that happened every few days. She would get to work and there would be something sitting on her desk or on her chair for her. A bag of Hershey kisses. A small candle that smelled like rain. A pair of mittens – because she was always cold and she giggled when she figured that one out. A small wooden carving of a bear and she wanted to ask him if he made that himself. And finally, a small compass, because she kept getting lost. And though it wasn't a necklace, she looped it around her neck as if it was.

If this was anyone else, she would almost think that he was courting her like this was some old-fashioned romance novel but she reminded herself that this was Daryl and for some reason, he was just being nice to her. It didn't really mean anything more than that. She told herself this again and again because every time she saw that he had left her something else, her heart beat a little faster and her stomach fluttered as if a dozen butterflies were somehow flying around in there, trying to get loose. She kept telling herself that she was just being silly; that this exchanging between them was probably just some sort of way they had found to pass time.

She always had to wait when he went out for smoke breaks to slip him his something somewhere in his tool box. He was much harder to choose things for. There were juice boxes, yes, but she couldn't give him juice boxes every time. She didn't know how he had figured out the perfect things to give her when they barely knew one another. Every day, she poured so much thought into what she could give him and when she did think of something and hid it for him, she told herself that he was going to hate it and think it was stupid.

There was a lucky rabbit's foot keychain. A small pocketknife. A new Zippo lighter with a deer on the front. A turtle shell she had found walking past a thrift store sidewalk sale one day. That was the weirdest one and she wasn't sure why when she looked at it, she thought of Daryl but she had and she bought it and hid it in the toolbox and sat there, not looking out to the garage as he found it. She didn't want to see his confusion; maybe even his disappointment and she knew he probably would go home and throw it out because he gave her such thoughtful things and she gave him some old useless turtle shell.

This was why she was so uncomfortable around the opposite sex. She had no idea how to do anything around them. She wondered how other girls – girls like her sister – just knew how to do things like this. Talk with guys and act around guys and have guys interested in them at first glance. Did they have a book somewhere that told them all of this? And if there was a book, why didn't Beth have a copy?

She would have laughed if she wasn't feeling so down on herself and not for the first time, she wished her mom was here. Annette would know exactly what to say to Beth to help her feel more confident around Daryl Dixon. Of course, if Annette was still around, Beth knew would be a very different person. Before her mom died, she had been outgoing and bubbly and loved being around people. But when Annette died, it had felt like a part of Beth had died right along with her.

After her mom died, she didn't feel hungry anymore. There was a part in her brain that told her that she had to eat; that her mom wouldn't want her doing this to herself. But she couldn't stop and she couldn't get her mouth to open. It spiraled out of control so fast that even with her dad and brother and sister pleading and crying with her to eat, she couldn't. She was in the hospital and then in a clinic and she went to therapy sessions and group meetings and slowly, she began to do something she hadn't done. She began to mourn the death of her mother – in a more normal _healthy_ way. But it was too late. Damage had been done and now, she was this girl. This girl who was so painfully shy and unsure of herself, she doubted herself at every turn and couldn't even speak with a person for too long before staring down at the floor and wishing she was anywhere else because surely, the other person wished they were.

Everyone in town looked at her and whispered about her. Poor Annette and Hershel's daughter who lost her mind and slit her wrist and tried to starve herself to death because she didn't know how else to live. She was such a sweet girl but she was still a crazy girl.

Beth dared a glance towards the window to look out over the garage and see Daryl working. He lived in the same town she did and probably heard all of the things said about her just as she had heard some things about him. Did he believe it? Did he look at her like a crazy girl?

She had just given him a turtle shell. Of course he thought she was crazy.

The phone rang and she quickly stopped looking at Daryl and Daryl's arms and the way Daryl's hair fell in his face to answer it.

"Dale's Garage," she answered in her sweet voice, trying to ignore the rapid beating of her heart and tightening of her stomach. "Oh, hi, Karen. Yes, I remember you." Beth remembered the pretty woman so well, her beating heart dropped to her feet.

In the garage, Axel whistled as she walked past and she kept her eyes set forward. Daryl lifted his head when he heard her steps approaching and he flicked his head as he always did to get the hair out of his face.

"I have a call for you," Beth did her best to keep her voice even. "It's Karen."

She watched as Daryl frowned and his brow furrowed with confusion. Without another word, she turned and went back into the office and the hairs on the back of her neck told her that Daryl was following.

"I'll give you some privacy," she said, already slipping out again.

"You don't have to do that," Daryl muttered, still frowning. He took the phone receiver on the desk and Beth hesitantly sat down in her chair again. "Yeah?" He spoke and Beth stared at her computer screen, trying not to eavesdrop though on Daryl's end of the conversation, there wasn't much to hear. Just one word grunts and she had no idea what they were talking about and she told herself that she didn't care. Why did she care? He had given her presents but they had just been little things and it was because she had given him a book to read.

Daryl didn't say anything as he hung up the phone again. Beth expected him to turn right around and go back into the garage but he hesitated and she lifted her eyes from the computer screen to him. He stood there, his hands in his pockets and he looked at her for a moment before his eyes darted down to the floor.

"Was wonderin' if you wanted to come for a ride with me after work tonight," Daryl said, his words mumbled, but Beth had been able to hear him perfectly.

"On your motorcycle?" She asked and she sounded breathless to her ears.

Daryl glanced at her before away again and gave his head a nod. "Don't ride with helmets so I don't know if that'd matter to you…" he trailed off.

"No, it doesn't," she said, which surprised her because she thought riding a motorcycle with a helmet definitely would have mattered to her. "And I would love to go with you."

He looked at her again and this time, his eyes lingered on her for an extra moment. She did her best to give him a smile; to show him that she loved his invitation. And he looked at her for another moment before giving another nod and she swore that she saw his lips twitch as if he wanted to smile.

"After the garage closes," he said and her smile to him was easier now.

He turned and went back to his bay and Beth watched him walk away. She still wondered – and was worried – about what Karen had called about but it wasn't any of her business and maybe there wasn't a reason to worry. Of course there wasn't. Not because there couldn't be anything between Daryl and Karen. But because she had no right to be worried. She was no one and she was no one to Daryl and she couldn't exactly blame Karen for showing interest in Daryl – if that was what she was doing. And who else could blame her if she was?

Work seemed to crawl by for the rest of the day and she did her best to not look out the window because if she did, she would just stare at him and get nothing done. She had absolutely no idea why Daryl had asked her to go on a ride with him – maybe she was asleep and this was all just a dream – but she wasn't going to question it. If he wanted to ask her to go on a ride with him, she would gladly go anywhere with him.

Somehow, the day kept moving forward and she breathed as if she had just reached the end of a sprinted marathon. The others began leaving and Daryl was cleaning up his station as always as she shut the computer down and began cleaning up her desk.

"Beth?" Dale came out of his office. "Have you seen-"

"On top of your head," Beth smiled and Dale laughed as he lifted his hand and felt the glasses resting there.

"Godsend," he said and Beth felt her cheeks warm though Dale called her something like that nearly every night before he left. "You have a good night. Get home safe."

"I will," she nodded. "Good night, Dale."

"Good night. Good night, Daryl!" Dale called out before leaving, the door swinging shut behind him.

Beth grabbed her coat and bag and after checking the office one more time, she left, turning off the lights, and walked into the garage, heading for Daryl. He was just finishing up and slipping on his own coat and the leather vest he always wore with the angel wings on the back. The fluttering she had felt in her stomach all day only intensified with each step that took her closer to him. And when he turned his head and looked at her, she had to remind herself to keep breathing.

"Hi," she smiled.

"You ready?" He asked and she nodded, unable to help the large smile from spreading across her face.

They stepped outside and walked towards his bike parked in the back. She hoped this wouldn't be too big of a disaster since she was wearing a dress that day. She was just glad she was wearing her ballet flats and not heels. With each step closer, her stomach fluttered and then tightened and she felt such a nervous excitement she felt as if about to go on the tallest rollercoaster at the carnival.

She laughed then a little as she watched Daryl climb onto the bike and he looked at her with a questioning look. She smiled and shook her head. "My sister will kill me if she knows I took a ride on the motorcycle," she said.

Daryl stared at her and she kept smiling and his own lips started to twitch. "We just won't tell her," he said.

She laughed slightly again. "Definitely not."

She didn't hesitate as she carefully climbed onto the bike behind him and settled herself onto the seat. She had never been on a motorcycle again and she wasn't entirely sure what the right things to do were but she slipped a little closer to Daryl's back and smelled his scent of leather and earth and she was proud of herself for not putting her nose to his shoulder and just inhaling him.

"Hold on," he said to her from over his shoulder and she slowly slipped her arms around his waist.

She wondered if he could feel her trembling. She wondered if he could hear the way the breath caught in her throat at being so close to him. He started the bike and it began rumbling behind her and she tightened her arms just a little bit more around him. He revved the engine and then they were off. He slowly pulled from the lot and then they were on the street, taking off, and she couldn't stop the yelp that left her mouth as she felt the cool wind against her face and Daryl's warm and hard body in front of her. She tightened her arms and closed her eyes and before she could stop herself, she pressed her cheek to his back.

She never thought she would ever be on a motorcycle and not just on a motorcycle but on one with Daryl Dixon. The stars overhead and the night clear and cool and no sounds except the roar of the motorcycle and the thumping of her heart. All of a sudden, she felt like her life was a song that she had to write.

She tried to remember the last time she had felt this happy.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I can't explain how much I love writing this story and I can't thank you all enough for reading, reviewing and loving it, too!**

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**Chapter Eight. **

He still wasn't entirely sure why he had asked her to come for a ride with him. He had actually never had someone on the back of his bike with him before; definitely not a girl with her slim arms wrapped around his waist and her warm cheek resting against his back and her sweet smell reaching his nostrils.

But for the past couple of weeks, they had been exchanging little tokens with one another and he always made sure he never made it obvious he was watching but he would catch her smile every time he left her something new and he knew he liked seeing that smile on her face. He had already admitted that to himself. So much of the time, she looked so damn sad and he liked that he – of all people – could get a girl like her to smile.

He usually thought things through. Most people thought that because he was so quiet, he was slow; trying to figure things out in his head or others thought that because he was a Dixon, he didn't think that much at all before doing something. But neither of those things were true. He was quiet mainly because he didn't like people that much and he didn't like to talk but when it came to having to talk to people, he was quiet because he liked to think things through. And that's another thing that confused him about Beth. Because he had hung up the phone with Karen and he had looked at Beth sitting there and without even thinking about it, he had asked her if she wanted to go on a ride with him. He could have kicked himself.

But then she smiled and he took a breath and for once, spontaneity had paid off.

He didn't know where he was taking her until he realized that on instinct, he had taken her home. To _his_ home. He pulled the bike to a stop in front of the trailer and he shut it off and he felt Beth's arms slip away as she climbed off the bike. He sat there for a moment and turned his head, looking at her, and this girl nearly took his damn breath away. He tried to remind himself that a guy like him never would have a shot with Beth Greene but for once, he seemed to be ignoring that voice in his head because when she smiled at him – slightly out of breath and her cheeks pink – he felt himself wanting to smile a little back.

"You hungry?" He asked, finally climbing off the bike.

She nodded, still smiling. "That was amazing," she then said.

He shrugged though internally, he was glad – and relived – that she had liked it. "I'll take you anytime you want," he then heard himself promise to her and he waited for the burn of regret to rise up in his chest but it never came and Beth just kept smiling.

Inside, he began looking around in the refrigerator and the cabinets for something to make for dinner and Beth stood near the couch, talking on her cell phone, telling her daddy that she'd be home later; that she was eating dinner with a friend that night. Daryl had no idea what Hershel Greene was saying on the other end but whatever it was, Beth looked back towards Daryl before quickly looking away – but not before he could see the blush on her cheeks.

"Need any help?" She asked once she had ended the call and stepped into the small kitchenette area to join him.

Daryl stood in front of the open refrigerator and shook his head, looking at her. "Didn' plan for this. I don't have anythin' to feed company."

She laughed a little at that and he couldn't stop himself from thinking how light and pleasant her laughter was to his ears. "I'm not company," she shook her head. "And don't worry about it. I'm not that hungry anyway."

Daryl stared into the refrigerator at the meager offerings and was glad his back was turned towards her at the moment so she couldn't see his frown. Even though she had told him about her… condition, he told himself that it wasn't any of his business; that it wasn't up to him to make sure she ate. She wasn't a baby. She was a grown woman – young but a woman nonetheless – and what she did to herself was up to her. It wasn't any of his concern just because something not so easily explained was happening between them at the moment.

"Here, Daryl," she said suddenly and he instantly turned to see her holding a can of tomato soup she had gotten from the cabinet. "Do you have cheese? We can have grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup," she told him and was smiling the whole time she did it.

Daryl looked at her for a moment. He didn't get why she looked so damn normal standing there in his trailer. Her hair was long and blonde and wavy and she had braided it before getting onto the bike and now, he found himself wishing it was down, hanging down her back and waving gently as she walked. He knew he had paid too much attention to her hair at the garage when he should have been working. She was wearing a dress – as usual – purple with white polka dots and he tried not to look at the way her collarbone seemed to jut painfully against her skin. Her smile was small but bright and she stood there and it was almost as if this was something that happened every night. Coming home from work and thinking of something to fix for dinner. And they would eat and maybe watch some television or read and then they would get ready for bed and go to sleep together.

He wanted to shake his head at himself because there was absolutely no reason to think of Beth Greene being the sort of girl who lived in a trailer; the sort of girl who lived in a trailer with _him_. He knew a bit more about her than he once did but he still didn't know enough. He knew that she had a shit ton of baggage and why would he want to invite that kind of thing into his life. His life was complicated enough.

He gave a nod. "Sounds good," he said.

He took out the package of American cheese slices and then began digging in the cabinet for a pot and a pan and he felt Beth brush against him from behind. He turned and saw her opening the refrigerator again, taking out the half stick of butter he had in there. She smiled when she saw him looking.

"I'll make the sandwiches," she volunteered and she didn't seem surprised when he shook his head at that, disagreeing.

"You're the guest," he said, wanting her to think that he wasn't just some dumb trashy redneck; that he had some manners, too.

Beth just smiled though and shook her head. He didn't think he knew anyone who smiled as much as her.

"I'm not a guest. I'm a friend," she said and she said it so easily, Daryl kept watching her as she turned to the stove and found himself wishing that that was actually true.

Maybe it was. Maybe they were friends. Friends? How the hell had that happened? Is that what they were? Daryl had never had that many friends. More than one kid in school had been told by their parents not to play with him and when he was older, it was really just him and Merle and Merle's friends. And now, it was just him again. There was Dale and Carol and Rick – the Sheriff, of all people – but Daryl was on his own and that was the way he both liked it and wanted it. Never in his life think he would be friends with a girl like Beth Greene or that she would actually want to be his friend, too.

He didn't get her.

They sat at the table with their sandwiches and bowls of soup but almost as soon as he sat down, he stood up again, heading towards the refrigerator.

"Want anythin' to drink?" He asked. "Got juice, water, beer and milk."

"Milk sounds good," she said.

"It ain't skim," he felt the need to tell her because didn't girls like drinking that crap?

"If it was, I wouldn't want it," she smiled at him and he stared at her and her smile for a moment too long. He realized what he was doing and he quickly looked away, the tips of his ears feeling hot.

He poured two glasses of the whole milk and then came back to the table, sitting down across from her. He watched her as she folded her hands and bowed her head and said a quick prayer and Daryl watched her, not eating and feeling a little awkward, not too sure what to do. He was pretty sure he hadn't prayed a day in his life. He remembered his mama seemed to have these angel figurines in the house when he was little but he never saw her praying either – and then she died and his dad smashed all of those figurines and Daryl cut his fingers cleaning the glass up.

When Beth was finished, she lifted her head and gave him a small smile before picking up her spoon and dunking it into her soup. And knowing that it was okay to start eating, he picked up his sandwich and took a crunchy bite.

"Good?" Beth asked him.

"'s real good," he said once he had chewed and swallowed and Beth only kept smiling. He watched her look around as they ate and he wondered what she was seeing when she looked around his place.

And as she looked around, Daryl took the time to study her. He noticed how clean she was. Not appearance wise because yeah, she was very clean that way. She was like walking peaches and cream. But he met in the way she behaved. She had asked for a napkin and he had found a brown napkin he had saved from fast food one night and she had draped it over her lap. She wiped her fingers of crumbs from the sandwich over the plate after each bite and she made sure that none were on the table around her. She kept making sure the napkin was still in her lap as if it had gotten up and walked away and she would lift it to her mouth after each sip of soup.

Every action seemed almost meticulous in a way but he didn't ask her about it. Like he reminded himself, it was none of his business.

After they ate, he took their bowls and plates and set it in the sink to be washed later and she stood up, wiping the table down with the napkin before throwing it away and he expected her to tell him that she was ready to go home now. But instead, he watched her as she walked to the couch and sat down as if this was her couch now and she slipped her feet from her shoes. He watched her slip her bare feet again the carpet and then she curled her toes, digging them in. She slipped her hands beneath her thighs as she sat there and he could see the slightest tremor wake through her.

Without a word, Daryl left the sink and crossed towards her. He reached behind her and took the blanket from the back of the couch, shaking it out and then draping it around her shoulders. Her fingers closed around it and she tilted her head up, looking up at him with those big eyes of hers and he felt his throat go completely dry. His hands were slow to fall back to his sides.

"Thank you," she said and her voice was quiet and her smile was soft and she kept looking up at him.

And Daryl felt as if he had just forgotten the entire English language as he kept looking down at her, his throat too dry and his tongue too big and suddenly, the trailer felt even smaller than it was, closing in on him until the walls were pressing against him and there was nowhere for him to go.

He gathered every ounce of discipline he had built within himself over the years and he was finally able to force himself to take a step back. "I should get you home soon," he said even though it actually wasn't what he wanted to say to her at all but he didn't know what he would say to her instead.

Beth nodded and the tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips as her eyes fell to look down to her thighs. "Alright," she said and Daryl told himself that he was just imagining the disappointment he swore he heard in her tone.

…

"Hey, Pookie," and he turned his head to see Carol approaching him with a smile.

He hated the nickname but he smirked a little in response. "Hey," he grunted his greeting before turning his eyes back to the books on the shelf in front of him.

He had known Carol for a few years – meeting her and her daughter at the town's diner when he first moved here and she had introduced herself – and liked her. She reminded him so much of his mom sometimes but thankfully, Carol had outlasted her own abusive husband, Ed dying in a car accident a couple years earlier.

"Whatcha looking for?" She asked as she took note of the aisle he was standing in.

Daryl swallowed and didn't look at her. He had tried looking up the books on library's computer catalog system but there weren't that many available and he stared at them now, wondering which one would be the best to read.

He felt like he was doing something wrong and yet, he couldn't seem to stop himself from doing this. He didn't know anything about anorexia or recovering anorexia or whatever the hell it was that Beth was going through. All he knew was that he wanted to do _something_ because as she had said the night before, they were friends. Or he guessed they were. He still wasn't too sure about that.

Carol took note of where he was standing and nodded as if she now understood what he was doing. "Come on," she said, taking his jacket sleeve and giving it a tug.

He followed her from the aisle as she went back to the computer and clacked something into the search engine. She was then off again and he followed her down another aisle – the biography and autobiography section – and she looked for a moment before plucking a paperback down from the shelf and turning towards him, extending it towards him.

He took it and looked down to the cover. _Thin_ by Grace Bowman. He looked back to Carol and didn't ask, knowing the question was pretty clear in his eyes.

Carol gave him a gentle smile. "Medical books can only tell you so much. I think if you read about it from someone who went through the same thing, it will help more," she explained and Daryl looked back down to the cover. She reached out and rubbed his arm. "Beth's lucky to have a friend like you, Daryl," she said.

It didn't surprise him that Carol knew why he was looking to read a book like this. It was a small town and everyone knew about Beth and knew she and Daryl worked at the same garage. It wouldn't take a genius to connect all those dots.

"Thanks," he remembered to say and she gave him another smile.

"Come on. Let's get that checked out for you," she said and left the aisle, heading towards the circulation desk with Daryl behind her, still looking down at the book.

He wondered if this would actually help. He guessed he could just ask Beth things right out but he didn't know how she would react. It seemed like her sister stifled her enough about it and he didn't want Beth thinking that he was going to treat her any differently. Hell, he didn't know how he treated her now but however it was, she seemed to like it. And he didn't know why he wanted to help but he just felt so damn helpless being so clueless around her. And if she said they were friends then Daryl was going to try and be a friend to her and help her if he could.

Or maybe she didn't want him to help. Maybe that was why she liked spending her time with him; because he didn't make her talk about it. Daryl could understand that. He had plenty of things that had happened to him that he never wanted to talk about and he stayed away from people most of the time so they could never ask.

"You still want it?" Carol asked, now standing behind the desk, looking at him and seeing his hesitancy.

He stared down at the book for another moment and then shook his head. "Nah," he said and set the book down in front of her before turning and leaving the library.

It wasn't any of his business anyway.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter just flew out of me this morning and I have already begun working on chapter ten. I really love this story. I seem to say that with every update but when I really love it, writing it comes so easy. **

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…

**Chapter Nine. **

When the garage closed at noon for the hour, Beth took her lunch and left the office. It was another thing that had developed between them and she wasn't entirely sure why or how but now, every day, she went out back and ate her lunch with Daryl. There weren't chairs or a table and they ate on the ground with their backs resting against the back wall but she brought a blanket so they could both sit on it and they sat there, side by side, sometimes talking but most of the time not, and it was just another thing that she began looking forward to every day.

He ate his bologna sandwich as she crunched on her red apple and they both watched a stray cat slowly walk across the lot, pretending he wasn't interested in them but approaching closer every few minutes.

"I'm glad you caught that mouse when you did," she commented and he didn't say anything in response except for a soft "Hmmmm."

She shifted and stretched her legs out in front of her, crossing them at the ankle. It was June and each day felt as if it was hotter than the day before. She had scooped her hair up in a ponytail and had taken her shoes off, placing them beside her. But even in her dress, she still felt uncomfortable. She looked to Daryl and the jeans and Dale's Garage tee-shirt he wore with the work boots and she didn't understand how he wasn't sweating. But then she imagined Daryl without a shirt on and she quickly looked away as she felt her entire face flush.

She had been thinking of him like that more and more. She wasn't able to forget the way her arms had felt around his waist as she rode behind him on the motorcycle or the way his scent filtered in her nose and swirled around her brain as if she was able to get drunk off of him. She imagined being with him in his trailer and waking up to that scent every morning and falling asleep with it in the air every night.

She felt silly and somewhat stupid for imagining things like that. There was no harm in imagining things like that with Daryl, she knew, but it did nothing for her sanity.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Daryl rip off a small part of the bologna from his sandwich and then he leaned forward, tossing it towards the cat. Beth felt herself smiling as she watched the cat eye the offering wearily and then flicked its eyes to the both of them, its tail swishing lazily behind it against the pavement. It sniffed at the meat, its ears flicking at every noise and then, with its eyes still on them, it gobbled the bologna up as quickly as it could before Daryl changed his mind and took it back.

Beth turned her head and looked to Daryl. He had finished his sandwich and leaned back against the wall, his arms cross over his chest, his eyes still on the cat. He didn't say anything so she didn't say anything either, never absolutely sure what she could or should say to him. She sometimes wondered if she was annoying her just by being out here with him. This used to be his space; his time by himself and then one day, she had felt brave enough to join him and he never told her to leave.

She finished her apple and set the core aside and then reached into the bag for her dessert. Two Oreo cookies. She took one and held it out to Daryl in a silent offering. Daryl looked at it and then at her and she gave him a small smile, still holding it out.

"Thanks," he said in his grunt and took the cookie, taking a bite.

"You don't pull it apart?" She asked. He just shrugged and she looked to her own cookie. She carefully twisted it apart and popped the cookie without the cream into her mouth first. "I always save the cream for last. The cream's the best part."

He snorted softly at that and after a split second, she realized what she had just said. Her face instantly exploded into a blush and she quickly looked away, eating the other half of the cookie though she didn't remember chewing or swallowing. Her heart thumped in her chest and the air suddenly felt a million degrees hotter around her. When she heard the bell on her desk in the office ding out, she nearly sighed with relief and hurried to her feet. She had never been more happy to hear that bell.

She slipped into her shoes and without looking at him, she took her lunch bag and hurried back into the garage, still feeling as if her skin was on fire. Why was she so hopeless when it came to men; to him?

She was happy for the distraction of a customer but when she saw who it was, she couldn't help but sigh again – this time for a different reason. She did her best to smile though she knew, deep down, that this wasn't just a friendly drop-in.

"Hi, Maggie," Beth said, entering the office.

Maggie smiled, too, when she saw her. "Hey. You eat lunch?" She asked.

And if anyone had asked that, it would be just a casual conversation starter but coming from Maggie, it made Beth bristle slightly. She nodded. "Just finished," she said and did her best to keep smiling. Just keep smiling. This was what Maggie did and Beth told herself that it was because Maggie loved her.

"Well, I had gone out to lunch with a couple of ladies from the office and I had leftovers. Thought I'd bring them to you so you could munch on them," Maggie said and pulled out a Styrofoam container from her bag, setting it down on the desk.

Beth tried not to exhale a heavy sigh. "Maggie, I just ate and I'm not going to eat another full meal between lunch and dinner tonight. Most people don't do that."

Maggie frowned at her. "You're not most people, Beth."

This time, Beth did sigh. As if she needed anymore reminders of that – especially from Maggie. To her older sister, it didn't matter if Beth was to gain another hundred pounds. This was all Beth was going to be and it would never matter what she did or how healthy she became. Maggie probably wouldn't be satisfied until Beth ate herself to death.

Without a word, Beth went to her desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a small journal with a blue leather cover. "I haven't written down what I had for lunch just now but you can still see the past few days," she held out the food journal to her but Maggie didn't take it. "Go on. Since you think I'm not eating enough-"

"I never said you weren't eating enough," Maggie said and Beth almost laughed because that was exactly what she was saying without coming right out with it.

"Beth?"

Both sisters whipped their heads around and Beth felt her eyes widen slightly with surprise when she saw Daryl standing in the doorway of Dale's office.

"Was wonderin' if you could help me," he said and jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the office behind him. "That guy is comin' at one and I can't find his invoice from the last time he was here to see what I did."

If Beth could have kissed him right then and there, she would have. All of the past invoices were filed and stored in the tall file cabinet by her desk but Maggie didn't know that and Daryl had just presented her with the perfect out.

She nodded and gave him a smile and hoped he was able to see the gratitude but she knew that he probably could. Daryl was able to see everything.

"Of course," she said to him and then looked back to Maggie. "I have to get back to work," she told her.

Maggie looked at her for a long moment and then finally nodded her head. "I'll see you at home tonight. Maybe one of the other guys will want that," she gestured towards the leftover container on the desk and then without a word, she turned and left and a minute later, they saw her car drive away.

Beth instantly deflated, expelling a great breath and nearly collapsing down in her chair. She jabbed her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands, trying to calm her heart down and get her breathing regulated. She heard Daryl move and when she lifted her head again, she saw him sitting down in one of the chairs against the wall.

"Thank you for that," she said and he gave his head a single nod, his eyes set on her.

"She always like that?" He asked.

Beth sighed softly and nodded, looking down to her journal on the desk. "Always. And… and I understand why. My daddy and brother can be like that, too, but they trust me for the most part. Maggie… I don't think she'll ever trust me again. She was the one… I used to hide food under my bed. Plates and bowls of food and I was telling everyone that I was eating but Maggie was the one who found all of the food."

Daryl didn't say anything and she knew that he probably had no idea what to say to that and she didn't know why she had just told him that. She didn't tell anyone anything about what she had done or what it had been like for her and her family.

She wished she knew what to say to him after that but she had blown it by talking about her eating disorder and she may not have known much about guys but she knew that that wasn't one thing to talk with about to guys.

She shifted in her chair and avoided looking at him and she took a pen, opening her journal to that day's date and writing down everything she had eaten for lunch beneath what she had eaten for breakfast. And once she was done, she stood up and went to the file cabinet. She could feel his eyes on her but he still didn't say anything. It took her a moment but she then located the folder and pulled out the latest invoice, turning and extending it towards him.

"Here you go," she said softly and tried to give him a smile.

Daryl stood up and took the paper from her, glancing down to it. "This guy has the worst luck with cars," he said and it helped her smile a little easier.

They heard other cars pulling into the parking lot and then the shouts and laughter as the other guys started coming back from lunch. Beth couldn't help but feel disappointed. No matter how much time she spent with Daryl, she felt like it was never enough. She wondered how much time with him would satisfy her. She wondered if he ever though the same thing about her but she knew that wasn't a thought she shouldn't torture herself with by having.

Zach entered the office instead of going through the bay doors and he grinned at Beth. Beth smiled shyly in return. She liked Zach for the most part. He reminded her of so many boys she had known throughout her life. He was good-looking and outgoing and had dozens of friends and always needed to be right in the middle of it. He was always inviting her to this or to that but she always declined. She liked Zach but she didn't _like_ him and she knew that spending time with him would be exhausting. He was one of those people who always had to be "on". She had grown to prefer a man who was just as quiet as her. A man who could spend an evening at home… reading books or hunting in the woods and she looked at Daryl from the corner of her eye, still standing next to her but having visibly stiffened.

"Hi, Beth," Zach smiled at her.

"Hi," she smiled faintly in return.

"Brought you something," he said and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a half of a Twix candy bar.

"Thank you," she said, still smiling and she took it from him.

"You got plans tonight?" Zach asked, leaning a bit into the desk, his eyes never leaving her and his smile never leaving his face.

"I do actually, I'm sorry," she said, apologizing as she always did whenever he invited her out although she was never really sorry about it. Still, he didn't have to know that and there was no reason not to be polite to him. He was perfectly nice.

"There's always tomorrow," Zach grinned wider and then gave her a quick wink before turning and heading into the garage.

Beth looked down at the Twix bar in her hand.

"Thought you didn' like caramel," Daryl grunted from beside her.

"I don't," she shook her head, tilting it up and looking at him. "But there's no reason why Zach would know that. Would you like it?" She asked, offering it out to him.

"Wasn' meant for me," Daryl shook his head.

He walked away from her then and she set the candy bar down on top of the Styrofoam container. She didn't even know what Maggie had brought her but whatever it was, she would offer it to Dale when he got back from the lunch hour. She sat down in her chair again and was slightly startled when Daryl suddenly appeared in front of the desk.

"Wanna go for a ride after work?" He asked, staring down at her.

She loved his eyes. They were blue but not like hers. His were light, almost milky, and they were always so sharp. Nothing ever escaped his attention. She wondered if he knew of her feelings towards him. She tried to hide them but she knew she wasn't the best at keeping them to herself. She feared she was always so obvious around him but if he had figured it out, why wasn't he running away? Why was he inviting her for rides on his motorcycles and spending more time together? She couldn't imagine a man like Daryl being interested in her in return. He was older and wouldn't he go for women closer to his own age and with half of the issues she had?

"Yes," she didn't even hesitate.

She didn't think about her family or dinner or making Maggie happy and keeping the peace. She just thought of being on the back of Daryl's bike, her arms around his waist and her cheek against his back and the wind on her skin.

He smiled then – just a little one but she caught it instantly and she broke out into one of her own. He gave a nod and this time, she watched him go into the garage. She counted to ten before she picked up the phone and dialed home.

"Hello?" Hershel answered on the third ring.

"Hi, daddy," Beth greeted, still smiling, and she knew he could probably hear it from over the phone.

"Bethy!" Hershel was smiling, too, and he sounded as if he hadn't heard from her in years. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's good," Beth said and her eyes floating to the windows to see the other guys in the garage, her gaze settling on Daryl. "So… Daryl asked me to go on another ride with him on his motorcycle tonight after work."

"Oh?" Hershel asked, trying to sound nonchalant, and Beth wanted to laugh.

He was the only one to know about Daryl, she having confided in him about the man one night when Beth was in the barn after another argument with Maggie. She was brushing down Nellie – sometimes, her horse being the only thing able to comfort her – and she saw her daddy enter on his crutches. It still sometimes caught her off guard, seeing him with only one leg and she wondered if she would ever get used to it. Hershel settled himself on a bale of hay and Beth kept brushing and didn't say anything, knowing that Hershel came out there to be the one to speak.

"She loves you, Bethy," Hershel said.

Beth nodded and swallowed the thickness in her throat. "I know."

"She's just scared for you."

Again, she nodded. "I know." She stilled the brush for a moment and then sighed softly, looking at him. "I just wish Maggie could treat me like how you or Shawn or Daryl treat me. Like I'm Beth."

Hershel studied her for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. "Who's Daryl?"

Beth instantly broke into a blush and quickly lowered her eyes to the ground. She almost denied it. She almost shook her head and insist that Daryl wasn't anyone even though Hershel would know she was lying.

She fiddled with the brush in her hands. "He… he's a mechanic at the garage and he…" _He's wonderful_, she bit down on her tongue and she slowly lifted her eyes to look at her daddy, Hershel looking at her, looking as if he wanted to smile. "He treats me like I'm not seconds away from breaking."

Hershel smiled then as Beth could hear him smiling now from over the phone.

"Make sure you eat dinner," Hershel said but unlike if Maggie had said the same thing, Beth just nodded and smiled a little because he got it. He knew that this was important to her.

Daryl and going on these rides and being away from the house, it was good for her. And Beth wondered if Maggie would ever get that, too, if Beth was ever to tell her about it. Was this even something that had to be told? She wasn't even entirely sure what they were doing or why Daryl was inviting her but all she did know, she thought as she kept watching him through the windows, that she really only felt like smiling when she was around him and she wondered if he was able to see that.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I really love writing something so different for this pairing and the characters involved. **

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**Chapter Ten.**

He wanted to kiss her. Badly. Probably more than he had wanted to do something in his life. He wanted to kiss her and tangle his fingers in that long hair of hers and he couldn't remember the last girl he wanted to kiss like that. He didn't think there had ever been a girl who made him want all sorts of things like Beth Greene.

After the garage was closed and they left for the night, Beth's arms were back around his waist and her cheek was against his shoulder blade and he drove them away, cutting through the darkness, not heading towards his trailer this time but just driving because he didn't want this ride with her to end anytime soon.

He hadn't planned on asking her for another ride so soon after the last one but he had stood there and watched Zach as the kid smiled and flirted with Beth and she had smiled back because Beth was too polite _not_ to smile back and Daryl could hardly stand any of it. He hated the way Zach smiled at her; like she was ice cream on a too hot day and Zach wanted to lick her up. Daryl wondered how he smiled at her. He didn't smile but with her, he had felt his lips twitch more than once and when Beth Green smiled, it was like the sun coming out after a rainstorm. Did he smile at her like that? Like she was the sun? Or like she was an ice cream cone?

He told himself that he wasn't jealous – especially of some annoying kid like Zach. A kid closer to Beth's age than him. Zach didn't stand a chance with Beth. She may have smiled at him but he was able to see that she wasn't interested in him. Daryl had to remind himself that she wasn't interested in him, either, and he stood as much of a chance as Zach did. She had called him her friend and wasn't looking to screw any kind of friendship up that he had with her.

He wanted to kiss her but he knew he wasn't going to because she looked to him as a friend and friends just didn't go around, kissing each other when one had showed absolutely no interest in the other doing that. He didn't know what Beth did to him because he never thought about a girl like this. He honestly never thought about girls at all. That always had been more of Merle's thing. His older brother lived to flirt and hook up with anyone of the opposite sex who crossed his path and struck his interest. He had been able to change over the past few years but Daryl knew his brother would still probably flirt up a storm if he was ever to meet Beth. Not that there was a reason for Merle and Beth ever to meet.

The thought made him frown because he had tried so hard to stay away from Beth Greene and now, all he wanted to do every day was find a reason to talk with her.

He saw a gas station ahead and he began to slow down, pulling into the lot and coming to a stop beside one of the pumps. Beth slid off first and he followed. She was taking her hair down and putting it up into a ponytail again and she smiled faintly at him when she saw him watching her. He looked at her, studied her, and he tried to imagine the girl she used to be. The girl who hid food underneath the bed. He didn't understand a person who willingly starved themselves and not for the first time, he wondered if he should go back to the library and get that book from Carol.

She stood nearby as he put more gas into the tank, humming a soft song that he didn't recognize and looking up at the few stars visible in the black night sky. He told himself that he was being creepy, looking at her all of the time, and he kept his eyes focused on the numbers of his total as they ticked upwards.

He had no idea where it came from but he suddenly found himself thinking of his mom and old man. He never understood how his mom had fallen for a guy like Will Dixon and he wondered if it had been normal for them once; almost like this. If his dad had actually liked her and had gone after her like a guy did when he liked a girl. Had they done this? Spent time together and when they weren't together, Will thinking about her all of the time?

Daryl shook his head at how stupid he was being. His dad was the meanest son of a bitch he had ever met and had beaten his wife and kids every day, Daryl carrying the scars on his back to prove it. The man hadn't known how to love anyone except himself and Daryl was sure the man had passed that down to his sons. Daryl didn't know the first thing about love or even basic human emotions. He looked at Beth and knew she wasn't like that; knew she didn't have a mean bone in her body and probably didn't even know how to hate anything in this world.

The tank was full and he put the gas cap on one more. "Wanna get somethin' to eat?" He asked and she looked away from the stars to look at him and she nodded with the damn small smile of hers that made the back of his neck itch. "Come on then," he said and began walking towards the gas station, Beth skipping a couple of steps to catch up and walk at his side.

He reached the door first and held it open for her and followed her in to see that they were the only ones in there besides the clerk working. Beth looked around at all of the junk food lining the shelves and then looked at him.

"Gas stations got your four food groups," he said, stepping forward and she followed him. He grabbed a bag of Funyuns and a Hostess cherry fruit pie. "Fruits and vegetables," he said and almost smiled when he handed them to her and she giggled. He grabbed a loaf of Wonder white bread. "Grain." He went to another aisle. "Meat." He handed her a stick of beef jerky.

"And dairy," she smiled, playing along, holding up the pack of jerky that also came with a few small blocks of cheddar cheese.

She was smiling so wide and laughing still and she held their dinner in her arms. He looked at her and she looked so damn pretty, standing with him in a gas station beneath the harsh fluorescent lighting, smiling up at him as if she didn't want to be anywhere else in the world right then.

And he wanted to kiss her.

The urge was tightening in his stomach, rising up his chest as if it was going to make him throat up, and he forced himself to look away from her then. He rubbed the back of his neck and wished that there was anything that could offer him a distraction right then because he was about to do something stupid he wouldn't be able to take back and it would just ruin whatever the hell this thing was between them.

If Beth noticed anything strange from him, she didn't act like it and she shifted all of the food in her arms. "This is a regular feast," she said, looking down at what he had chosen and he wondered if she would actually eat a single of those things if he was to buy it all. Girls like her didn't eat from gas stations. "You want to hear something?" She looked at him and lowered her voice as if to reveal the secret location of the fountain of youth and he saw the way her eyes were sparkling. "I have never tried a Funyun."

He actually cracked a smile at that, taking the yellow bag from her arm. "Well, then you haven' truly lived yet, girl."

He went to the counter and Beth giggled, following behind. She placed the rest of the food on the counter and Daryl grabbed his wallet from his back pocket. As the clerk rang everything up, he watched her as she turned a display of cheap sunglasses and he smirked as she slid on a yellow pair, the lenses too big for her face, and when she looked at her reflection in the warped mirror, she smiled, thinking the same thing.

"Those, too," Daryl told the clerk.

"Daryl-" it was no surprise when Beth began to immediately protest, sliding the sunglasses from her face, but Daryl just ignored her and when the clerk gave him the total, he handed him the money, taking the plastic bag in exchange.

"Excuse me," Beth spoke up. "Where's your bathroom?"

The clerk pointed towards the back and Beth looked to Daryl.

"I'll wait for you outside," he said and she nodded, brushing past him.

Outside, the sun was completely set now and he set the food in the bag hanging at the side of the bike. He leaned against the seat and lit a cigarette, waiting for Beth and listening to the cicadas. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Not just here but here with her. What the hell was this girl doing to him? He wasn't exactly the kind of guy who deserved to be even breathing the same air as Beth Greene.

She came out again, her own plastic bag in her hand, and he dropped the cigarette on the ground, stubbing it out with the toe of his boot.

"Smoking next to a gas pump?" She teased him and he smirked, shrugging. "I got some water to have with our dinner and I got you something, too." With that, she pulled out a black trucker cap and he gave her a look, trying not to smirk again and she stood on her toes, dropping it onto his head. "Perfect," she smiled, almost laughing, and he frowned at her though he didn't really mean it and she must have known that because a bubble of laughter did escape past her lips that time.

He kept the hat on his head as he asked, "Where you wanna go and eat all this?"

She shrugged, her smile softening into the one it always was. "I don't really know this area…" she trailed off, looking around as if waiting for an idea to present itself.

"Come on. I know a place," he said and climbed back onto the bike.

She put the bottles of water in the bag with the other food and then climbed on behind him, her arms slipping around his waist, and he swore he could feel her palm rubbing the slightest circles around his stomach. He almost sucked it in as if that would escape her touch but he closed his eyes for a moment, reveling in it for as long as he could without making it obvious even though he knew he was just imagining it and she really wasn't touching him like that.

He drove them to the Yellow Jacket Creek – one of his favorite fishing spots – and it was dark and even though their eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now, he wound up holding her hand as he led her carefully down the side towards the water. He tried to think of something that he had ever touched that was as soft as her skin felt. The water was rushing past them and something splashed nearby – probably a frog – and he watched as she settled herself down on one of the rocks.

He watched, knowing he wouldn't be able to look away for anything, as she took one of the Funyuns and guided it to her mouth, crunching on it, taking a moment to focus on how it tasted on her tongue.

She looked at him after a moment and smiled. "Where have these been my whole life?" She asked and Daryl had no idea why he felt so relieved that she liked them.

…

During a stint in prison, Merle had met a woman through a prison pen-pal program and when he had talked about it, Daryl couldn't help but be a little doubtful. He could just imagine the sorts of women who pursued men when they were locked up. But once Merle was released, he seemed to settle down into a nice little life with his pen-pal, Annie, who became his wife two days after he was let out. They lived in a house that Annie had inherited once her grandmother had passed away and it still confused the hell out of Daryl when he went over and saw Merle doing yard work.

It had taken years – too much booze and too many drugs and too many laws broken – but it seemed like Merle finally had gotten himself together. He was still rude and crude as hell, still _Merle_, but he was a man who was earning his money through an actual honest-paying job – a garbage man – and who came home every night to the same woman and sometimes, Daryl wasn't sure he even knew who his brother was anymore. Who would have ever thought that both Dixon boys would turn out somewhat alright in life because they had had a hell of a reputation when they were younger.

"Hey, baby brother," Merle grinned when he opened the door and Daryl stepped into the house, Merle slapping him on the back.

"Hi, Daryl," Annie came from the kitchen, smiling, and it had taken Daryl some getting used to but Annie was a hugger. She hugged him now as she always did every time she saw him and Daryl never hugged back because he definitely was not a hugger but that never seemed to bother Annie. "Dinner's almost ready. You want a beer?" She asked and then without waiting for a confirmation or refusal, she went into the kitchen to get him one.

Merle sat down in his recliner and Daryl sat on the couch and Annie came back, handing Daryl a can and sitting down beside him. Annie had the kind of body that Merle loved in a woman – a large chest and a flair of hips – with red hair and too much lipstick in Daryl's opinion but she wasn't his wife so why did he care? She had always been so nice to him and Daryl liked her and thought she was good for Merle. And Merle certainly seemed happy being with her.

"Tried callin' you last night," Merle said. "Roller Derby's next weekend and a couple of Annie's friends are in it. Wanted to see if you wanted us to get you a ticket."

Daryl shrugged. "Yeah." He took a sip of his beer and a thought occurred to him then even with him trying to shove it out again. "Think you can get me two?" He heard himself asking even though he told himself he didn't really want to and Merle looked at him for a minute before breaking into a slow grin.

"You got someone you're wantin' to invite along?" Merle asked and he was smiling and from the corner of his eye, he could see Annie smiling, too.

Daryl just shrugged and took another sip of beer.

"This the someone you were with last night instead of answerin' your phone?" Somehow, Merle's smile seemed to grow even wider.

And again, Daryl just shrugged, not speaking, and ignored Merle's laughter.

"We will definitely get you two," Annie swiftly promised, her own smile big and happy and Daryl couldn't help but frown at the both of them.

"Stop. It's just a bunch of women on skates tryin' to kill each other and I have a friend who might like it," Daryl heard himself explain though he didn't know why he was bothering because all Merle and Annie were hearing were wedding bells.

And maybe Beth wouldn't like it at all. Maybe he just wanted to spend even more time with her.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

…

**Chapter Eleven.**

She still hadn't picked shoes when she heard the doorbell ring. She almost gasped, her eyes flying to the clock. He was there right when he said he would be and she still didn't know what shoes to wear. Downstairs, she could hear Shawn talking and she could just imagine the things he was saying to Daryl. She grabbed her Converse sneakers and tugged them on as quickly as she could before hurrying out of her room and down the hallway.

Shawn had been oddly excited when she told her family that she was going out with a friend on Friday night and also, a little jealous when she said they would be going to the Roller Derby. Shawn had muttered something about how scary and hot those women were and he could just imagine them in bed and Beth had just given him a strange look because she hadn't been too sure how to respond to that.

Hershel had smiled when she told them that the friend she was going with was Daryl but he thankfully didn't insinuate anything in front of her siblings, his smile being more than enough to make her blush. And when it was just the two of them, Beth reminded him that she and Daryl were just friends and this wasn't a date. Hershel had just kept smiling though.

That was something she had told herself many times over the past few days ever since Daryl had asked her during their lunch hour on Monday – his eyes not meeting hers and having to clear his throat a few times. She had certainly never been to the Roller Derby – had never even thought of going to a Roller Derby – but when Daryl had asked her, saying his brother and sister-in-law went, that it was kind of their thing and were always inviting him along, she had smiled and eagerly agreed to go. It was something new and different for her to experience and she was excited to be able to experience this with Daryl. Her friend, Daryl. _Friend_. That seemed to be something she had to remind herself of more and more.

Maggie had been oddly quiet about the whole thing and Beth had almost asked her if she was alright but she was honestly too afraid to know.

"She hasn't eaten dinner so if you could…" Hershel was saying as she came down the stairs and Beth saw Daryl nodding his head in agreement.

Beth felt a flush rise up her neck as she felt a stone settle in her stomach. It was as if Daryl was babysitting her for the night. She now remembered why she hadn't been out on a date in so long – as if she could forget and not that this was a date. She felt so unsure around guys now, convinced they were all looking at her and studying her and trying to figure her out so they could save her. Guys seemed to love it if they were able to save a girl.

She knew Daryl wasn't like that and yet, she felt as if she was forcing him into the position to be.

Daryl lifted his eyes then and saw her on the stairs and she managed to give him a small smile and his own lips twitched a little towards her in response. He was wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt and he looked almost sloppy as he always did and yet, he looked so good as he always did and she felt that flutter in her stomach that she was getting so used to feeling every time he was around no matter how hard she tried to stop herself.

"Hi," she smiled, coming down the last step.

"Hey. You all set?" He asked.

"Yep," she said and she was smiling easier now because she couldn't deny that she was excited. She had absolutely no idea what to expect tonight and she had never been the sort to just dive headfirst into something – even before she got sick. Maybe this was who she was now. A girl who did spontaneous new things.

"Maybe want to get a sweater or somethin'," he said. "It might be cold in there."

Beth smiled and nodded before going into the living room where she had left her white cardigan sweater from work earlier. She slipped it on over her blue tee-shirt and came back into the main entry hall where Shawn was now telling Daryl that if he knew of _any_ girl in the derby league who needed help with their sore muscles to give them his name. He had been known to give a very good massage. Daryl just stood there and smirked and Beth rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I'm ready," she said and Daryl moved his eyes to her.

She told herself that this wasn't a date even though that was what it felt like when Daryl and her daddy shook hands and then daddy kissed her on the side of the head, smiling at her and telling her to have a good time. Beth found herself taking a last glance for Maggie but she wasn't anywhere to be seen and she wasn't sure why she felt disappointed. If Maggie had been there, too, she would have probably just said something that would maybe upset Beth for the rest of the night.

She smiled when she saw his bike. She had expected him to be driving his pickup truck tonight for some reason and seeing his bike, it only made her smile and feel breathless and when he climbed on and she climbed on behind him, her arms instantly sliding around his waist, she told herself that this wasn't a date. This was just an evening out with two friends. And even if she hadn't been the one to declare them to be friends, it wasn't as if he would ever want anything more.

The Roller Derby was at the recreation center and she was surprised to see that almost the entire parking lot was full. She hadn't thought Roller Derby would get that much attention but seeing the crowd there, it only made Beth feel even more excited for tonight. Daryl parked the bike and turned it off and Beth couldn't help but practically leap off of it. Daryl climbed off as well, looking at her with a smirk.

"Excited?" He asked.

She smiled and realized she was practically bouncing on her toes. "Is it obvious?"

He smirked a little wider, almost smiling. She wished he would smile more. He probably would never believe it but she thought Daryl had an adorable smile. When he smiled, he looked so much younger. Not that she wanted him younger but when he smiled, he looked as if he didn't carry the world's problems on his face. When he smiled, it always made her smile in return.

"'m glad you wanna be here," he said, fiddling with his keys in his hands, looking at her for a moment before looking away quickly across the parking lot.

"I'm glad you invited me," she said and she wanted to hug him or even kiss him on the cheek but she bit her lower lip because he still wasn't looking at her and she couldn't just kiss Daryl on the cheek. She could just imagine his repulsed reaction to that and she didn't want to ruin tonight. Tonight, she was all about having fun with her friend and doing something she had never done before.

"My brother and his wife… I told 'em I was bringin' someone but I didn' tell them… they're prob'ly gonna be annoyin' as hell," Daryl warned her as they began crossing the lot towards the brightly lit building.

"That's alright," Beth smiled. "You were subjected to my brother. Sorry about him, by the way," she then quickly added.

Daryl shrugged and reached the door first, stepping aside and holding it open for her. "He was funny. I should prob'ly apologize for my brother now."

Beth just smiled. "I'm sure he's lovely."

Daryl snorted at that and he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pink ticket. He handed it to her and Beth smiled wider – not only because he had gotten her a ticket and had invited her to come and she _was_ super excited to be here but his fingers had just brushed against hers and she could feel her cheeks blushing just at the brief contact. Her hand could still feel his hand holding hers from the other night when they had gone to the Yellow Jacket Creek and had eaten their gas station dinner. His hand had been rough and warm and she could still feel the way her stomach had clenched at his touch.

Friends. Just friends, Beth, she scolded herself. She wondered if she had always been this pathetic or if this was something that just Daryl brought out of her.

There was a man sitting at a table outside of the double doors that led into the field house and Daryl stopped, handing him his ticket before getting a stamp on the hand and Beth followed, handing the ticket over and getting a star stamped on her hand.

Daryl looked at her. "Wanna get somethin' to eat?" He asked.

Beth nodded but then she felt herself smile a little. "I feel like that's all I do when I'm with you. Eat."

Daryl shrugged. "You don't got much choice when it comes to that."

Beth stared at him as his words settled over her. She told herself that he didn't mean anything by it. It _was_ something she had to do and she didn't have any choice in it. Something everyone had to do and yet, she looked at him and she remembered the way her dad had told Daryl about dinner and Daryl had nodded because he knew that she, of all people, had to eat. He was her babysitter. Maybe they weren't even friends. Just a babysitter and ward.

She saw the expression passing over his face. He looked at her and looked completely ashamed that he had just said that. "I didn'-"

"Sure," Beth cut him off and quickly looked around in search of the concession stands. Spotting it and without waiting for him, she turned and began walking in that direction, pulling the money she had tucked into her jeans from her pocket. She wasn't surprised when Daryl was at her side within seconds. "So, I was reading up on Roller Derby before coming," she said as they waited in line.

She saw him smirk. "You researched Roller Derby?" He asked.

His earlier comment forgotten (_almost_), she felt her cheeks warm and she smiled. "Of course," she looked at him with a shrug. "I didn't want to be completely lost."

His smirk grew almost into a full-fledged smile. "'s women tryin' to kill each other. It's actually pretty straight forward," he said.

She laughed a little. "I didn't expect you to like something like this. Not that I think about things you like and I have never thought about roller derby before." She felt her face grow warmer. "I'm just… surprised."

"Yeah," Daryl said but said nothing else and Beth didn't know what else to say. She looked ahead at what sort of food there was but then she heard Daryl mutter "Shit" and she turned her head to look at him. He was looking at something past her and she wondered if his brother was coming. She wondered why he was worried about her meeting his brother because this was what family did. Family embarrassed you. It was the whole reason families existed.

"Was wonderin' where you were," a man came up to Daryl, slapping a hand on his shoulder. He was older, a little shorter and stockier with a shaved head, bristles of grey hair over his scalp and across his face from not shaving. He was grinning and when he turned that grin on her, Beth smiled, too. "And you're the second ticket."

"Hi," Beth didn't hesitate in sticking her hand out. "Beth Greene."

"This is my brother, Merle," Daryl muttered before Merle could say anything and Merle kept grinning, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Well, hello there, sweetness," Merle didn't take his eyes from her and his smile didn't fade and Beth could see Daryl shifting almost uncomfortably beside her. "Gotta tell you. You were not what I was expectin' when Daryl asked for a second ticket so he could bring someone along."

Beth glanced at Daryl for a moment and then looked back to Merle. "What were you expecting?" She asked, her curiosity evident in her tone.

Merle just shook his head and kept grinning as he looked her up and down. He then looked to Daryl and slapped his hand on his back. "Thing's 'bout to start. Annie's savin' us all seats. Punky Bruiser's here," he then said.

"Great," Daryl grumbled, facing forward, staring at the concession window they were just two people away from.

"Punky Bruiser?" Beth couldn't help but ask.

"One of Annie's friends," Merle answered her as if they both knew that Daryl never would. "Annie, my wife. Punky plays on one of the teams and has had a crush on ol' Daryl here forever." Merle grinned at that.

"It seems like quite a few women have crushes on him," Beth said before she could stop herself and when Daryl looked at her, eyes dark and intent, she felt her cheeks burst into fire as she quickly moved her eyes away. She wanted to say that she wasn't talking about her but rather Karen but the words clumped in her throat and Daryl had already made his assumption and it was too late to explain.

She didn't say anything as she listened to Merle and Daryl talk. Well, Merle did all of the talking and Daryl would just grunt occasionally. When it was their turn, she stepped up first to order a soft pretzel and a bottle of water. She paid for it herself, too, before Daryl could. It was bad enough that he felt some sort of obligation to make sure she always ate. She didn't need him to always pay for it, too. When she got her things and turned, Merle and Daryl were both looking at her and she wondered if Daryl had told Merle about the girl at the garage who starved herself and she wondered if Merle had figured out that she was _that_ girl. But her eyes fell on Daryl and she could tell what he was thinking. She was used to that look. From Maggie. From her daddy.

_Is that all you're eating?_

And she had always hated that look but seeing it from Daryl right now, it actually upset her more than angered her because this was Daryl and in the time they had been spending together, he had never looked at her like that before but he was looking at her like that now and Beth honestly just felt like she could cry.

She had been having so much fun with Daryl over the past few weeks, just talking and spending time together – whether it was in his trailer or going for rides on the back of his motorcycle – and she had thought he was having fun with her, too. But maybe she had been wrong about it all. Maybe Daryl _was_ like one of those men; the men who looked at a girl and decided he needed to save her. And maybe Daryl had looked at her and found out about her and he had some white-knight complex.

She had thought that maybe he had liked her. Not like a man liked a woman, of course, but like a guy liked a girl when they were friends. And she wondered how big of an idiot – a _naïve _idiot – she was for thinking that.

She quickly looked away from him and stepped from the line and stood off to the side as she waited for Daryl and Merle. She looked around at the crowded field house and the rink in the middle of the large room with metal bleaches surrounding it. She had been so excited to be here but now, she really just wanted to go home.

God, she was an idiot.

…

* * *

**To those who celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Easter. **

**Daryl's POV will be next, of course, and the Roller Derby continues. **

**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

…

**Chapter Twelve.**

She was so fucking pretty and he kept opening his mouth and saying things and screwing things up. After he had gotten his slice of pizza and ginger ale – though he wasn't feeling hungry at all – they followed Merle to the bleachers where Annie was and of course, when Annie met Beth, she hugged her and Beth smiled a little and hugged her, too. The two women were now sitting next to each other with Merle next to Annie and Daryl next to Beth and Daryl was very aware that she hadn't spoken one word to him. Not since he made that comment about her eating.

He chewed on his slice of pizza mechanically as he watched the match start in front of them, the cheers rising through the crowd and he could hear Beth laugh softly at something Annie had told her. Something twitched on the back of his neck and he suppressed a sigh. He was an idiot. No one could ever say he wasn't. He knew he was nervous around her. He had never spent time like this with a girl and he didn't know what he was doing with her. He didn't get why she seemed so damn eager to spend her free time with him unless the girl was desperate for companionship.

He nearly sighed at himself. There he went, making assumptions about her when he had no right. She wanted to spend time with him because for some reason, she liked spending time with him and he had to just shut up and like it. And he did like it. Probably more than a man like him had a right to.

But he kept screwing it all up. He could kick himself for that comment he made about her eating. He had witnessed it firsthand. She got enough shit about her eating from her sister and Beth didn't need it from him, too. He knew he had upset her and when she had paid for her own pretzel, he couldn't help but stare at her because he realized that he had pissed her off, too. And now, she was giving him the silent treatment. She had been so excited to be there tonight – _with him_ – and now, he didn't doubt that she was probably counting down the hours until it was time for him to take her home again. With one comment, he had messed everything up.

Messed up what exactly though? Daryl was still trying to figure that one out. Since he messed up, were they not going to be friends anymore? Daryl had finally let himself accept the fact that they were friends and now, had he messed that all up?

Daryl couldn't help but watch her from the corner of his eye – making sure she didn't know he was watching her – as she ate her pretzel. She was eating like she always ate. Almost meticulous. She had a napkin draped in her lap and she tore the pretzel into small pieces, making sure that the salt that fell off stayed on the napkin. She ate carefully and neatly and he wondered if all people with a recovering eating disorder ate like she did. Even her bites were careful and slow and he couldn't help but be fascinated by it all. He wanted to ask her about it but he didn't want to talk to her about eating; probably would never bring anything food-related up again.

He felt her flinch a little every time there was a collision and a thud of bodies on the rink and he couldn't help but look at her fully now.

"We can go if you want," he leaned in a little closer to her so she could hear him over the cheers and noise of the crowd around them.

He smelled her sweet scent and made sure he didn't close his eyes and just inhale.

Beth shook her head and turned to look at him and their eyes instantly locked. He was instantly aware of how close their faces were and he wondered if she was aware, too. If she was, she didn't pull back and Daryl found himself not wanting to himself either. She was probably the only person in the world he didn't mind being close to and he didn't know what the hell that meant.

"I'm fine," she said and her voice was almost too soft but her words were still able to find their way to his ears. "It just takes some getting used to."

He nodded and tried to think of something else to say because she was talking to him and looking at him and he wanted this to keep going. But his mind was blank and Beth looked at him for another moment before turning her head and looking forward again. Merle stood up and shouted a couple obscenities at one of the refs and he could see Beth's lips twitching at the outburst. Annie leaned in and said something to her then that Daryl couldn't hear and Beth laughed again.

Daryl sighed to himself. She had no problem enjoying herself with his brother and sister-in-law but being near him seemed to be practically torture for her. He was an idiot. Of course it was. He had treated her like some little girl who couldn't take care of herself and he had _never_ thought of her as a little girl. She was a young woman who wasn't in need of a babysitter and he wasn't looking to be one to her either.

He finished his slice of pizza and he looked at her, debating whether or not he should tell her that he was going out for a smoke but deciding that she probably wouldn't care, he stood up without saying anything to anyone and began making his way down the bleachers. He tossed his paper plate and empty soda can into a passing trashcan and made his way back into the somewhat cool night. He walked away from the door and leaning up against the wall of the building, he lit a cigarette. As he exhaled, he stared up at the night sky.

He thought of being at that gas station with Beth just a few days ago, filling up his bike and listening to her hum as she looked up at the stars. Just thinking about her standing under the canopy of stark lights, his stomach clenched because he could see her perfectly in that moment and he thought of how she was the greatest girl he had ever met and how he just wanted to be around her more and more.

He wanted to take her out on a real date – just the two of them – where they could spend time together like they had that night and it would be alright if he kissed her at the end of it after he took her back to her daddy's house. He wondered if Beth would ever let him kiss her. Probably not. Probably wouldn't want to go out on a date with him either. She had called him her friend and he had to remember that. He shouldn't be wanting to go out on a date with her. He had never been on one before and he didn't the first damn thing about taking a girl out on one. Besides, what did two people do on a date besides eat? Beth would probably think he was trying to force feed her again if he asked her if she wanted to go out with him.

"Hey."

The sudden appearance of her voice nearly made him begin choking on his smoke but he managed to control himself and he exhaled as he turned his head to see her standing there. He must have really been deep in thought because she had been able to appear without him realizing it and no one had ever been able to sneak up on him. She stood there, looking nervous, her fingers fidgeting in front of her and she stood a couple of feet away, half in the darkness with him and half in the light coming from the front windows of the recreation center.

"Hey," he grunted back and then took another drag of the cigarette, looking away.

It took her a few moments but then he heard the crunching of gravel beneath her feet as she moved closer to him and then, she was leaning up against the wall beside him and he could feel the slight warmth radiating off of her and her sweet scent filling his nostrils past the smoke.

She was quiet so he was quiet, too.

"Can I try one?" She then asked softly, suddenly.

"No." His answer was immediate. He looked to her and his lips almost twitched in a smile as he saw her own lips weighed down at the corners with a frown. "It's a shitty habit to pick up."

"One puff isn't going to make me a nicotine monster," she said.

He shrugged. "Prob'ly not but I'm not riskin' it with you." He was surprised when she fell quiet and didn't push the matter anymore after that. He finished the cigarette in a few more drags and then dropped it to the ground, stubbing it out with his toe. "'m sorry 'bout earlier."

Beth shrugged. "It's alright."

"No," he shook his head. "It ain't." He looked at her and she was already looking at him, somehow her eyes seeming even larger to him. "I didn' mean anything by it."

"I know, Daryl," she said softly. "I have a tendency to overreact to comments made to me about eating."

"I don't blame you," he said. "I don't worry 'bout you eatin'. I never think 'bout that when we're spendin' time together. I guess the reason we're always eatin' when we're together is because… I don't know what else to do when I'm with you."

He almost winced because he could just imagine the way Beth might take that. But instead, he looked at her and was amazed to see a faint smile forming across her lips. She seemed to lean into him a little bit, her shoulder brushing along his arm and from that slight contact, Daryl could feel a fire spread across the back of his neck.

"I like spending time with you," she said to him softly.

Daryl was sure his throat had completely dried up and he wasn't able to speak but somehow, he found himself swallowing and he nodded his head. "Me, too."

That made her smile grow a little bit more and he could only stare at her because she was so fucking pretty and what was she doing, standing out here with him of all people? Before she got sick, she probably had a boyfriend. Girls like her always did. The good, clean-cut boyfriend who knew how to court her. And now, with her slowly getting better, she should be going back to boys like that. Not guys like him. His idea of courting her was taking her back to his trailer for grilled cheese sandwiches or eating junk food down by a creek or giving her stupid little gifts that were cheap and useless – and he tried not to think about the way she had smiled with each one.

Courting. He nearly snorted and he reminded himself that he wasn't courting her because he didn't _want_ to court her; didn't know the first damn thing about courting any girl. He and Beth were friends and friends didn't court friends.

"Thank you, Daryl," Beth said softly and then he stood completely still as she raised herself on her toes and her lips came in the lightest contact with his face, close to the corner of his mouth. And her lips were only there for a second before she was pulling back but it felt as if he could feel every nerve inside of him explode at once.

He didn't say anything – what the hell was there to say? – and just blinked at her and he could see her blush clearly even as they stood in the darkness.

Beth was the one to break the silence. "Come on," she gave him a soft smile despite her still deep blush. "I don't want to miss the whole thing."

He nodded his head and followed her back into the center. They showed their star stamps to the man at the door before going into the field house. There was a break and a loud Blondie song was playing over the speakers. From the corner of his mouth, he could see Beth's mouth moving as she sang along though she was too soft and everything around them was too loud for him to hear.

"There you two are," Annie smiled as they came back up into the bleachers. "Beth, will you come to the bathroom with me?" She asked, standing up.

"Yes," Beth nodded with a smile.

"What do you do when we're home when there's no other girl for you to take a piss with?" Merle asked, tilting his head up to look at her.

Annie smacked him upside the back of his head and Daryl smirked, turning his head away so Merle couldn't see. Annie smiled down at Merle sweetly as Merle frowned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Give me a baby girl and I won't have this problem," Annie quipped before taking Beth's hand and pulling her back down the bleachers.

Daryl sat down and wasn't surprised when Merle slid over and settled himself next to him. Daryl didn't look at him though, expecting Merle to dive right into teasing him about Beth. Instead, Merle was grumbling, still rubbing the back of his head.

"Damn woman is talkin' 'bout kids more and more," Merle said.

Daryl shrugged. "So have a kid with her. You're married. Isn' that what married people do?" He asked, finally looking to his brother.

It was a mistake though because now that Merle had his attention, he grinned.

"You and Beth gonna have a kid?" Merle asked.

Daryl only frowned. "What the hell are you talkin' 'bout? Beth and me aren't married and I ain't lookin' to marry her."

Merle snorted at that. "Please, baby brother. You can fool your little angel but you're not able to fool me. You're lookin' at that girl like she's a star fallen to earth."

Daryl snorted at that but he wasn't able to think of a comeback. He had been wondering how he looked at Beth and now he seemed to have an answer.

"We're just friends," Daryl grumbled, finally able to say something.

Merle just kept grinning though. "Most times, friends make the best bed mates. Might want to look into that." He didn't say anything after that and when Annie and Beth came back, Merle slid back down so the two women could sit between them.

Beth sat beside Daryl and this time, she had no problem looking at him and smiling. Daryl did his best to smile back but honestly, all he was thinking about now was seeing Beth Greene naked; imagining her in his bed, her blonde hair across his pillow and her soft breath in his ear as he kissed his way down her body.

He shifted in his seat and quickly looked back to the rink when the match begun again. He could kill Merle for this.

…

It was almost eleven by the time he got her back home, his motorcycle roaring through the quiet night as he sped down the dirt road of the farm and came to a stop in front of the farm house's front steps. He felt Beth's arms slip away from his waist and it amazed him how such a little thing like her could make him feel so cold when she wasn't pressed against him anymore.

She stood beside the bike and gave him a shy smile. "I had such a good time tonight."

"Good," he was quick to say, his eyes falling to her face and he wasn't able to look away.

He wondered if Beth Greene had any idea how much power she had over him. He assumed it was power because he had never felt this before and no one else had sure as hell never made him feel like this. If her daddy's barn was to catch on fire right now and she wanted him to go in there and save that damn mouse from the shop that she had set free in there, he would without argument or hesitation.

She seemed to hesitate, her fingers fidgeting again and he couldn't figure out if she wanted to say something else or if she was waiting for him to say something. He had no idea what he was supposed to say though. Did other guys know what to say to girls when they looked at them like that?

She gave him a small smile. "Good night, Daryl."

But when she took a step away, Daryl couldn't help but reach out and snatch her hand, surprising both of them with the bold mood. She looked at him with slightly wide eyes and the tips of his ears began to burn as he dropped his hand again.

He kept his eyes on her though. "Would you wanna go out on a date with me?"

Daryl had no idea where the question came from because he had never thought he would ever ask her that. Of course, when she first started working at Dale's, he had never thought he would ever put himself anywhere near her and that plan had been blown out of the water. And now, he found himself wanting to spend as much time with her as he could.

And the way Beth was looking at him now and smiling faintly, he thought that maybe she was thinking the same thing.

"I would love that so much," she answered and he swore she sounded practically breathless.

And hearing Beth breathless only made him think of other things and he did his best to not shift on his seat.

He managed to swallow and give her a slight upwards tilt of his lips and the smile she gave him in return made all of the discomfort worth it.

…

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**I have some drama planned and it might be cruel to say but I'm excited to write it. **

**Thank you so, so much for your response to this story and thank you so much for reading! Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I don't even know what to say. Your response to this story has been so amazing and encouraging and I love writing each chapter so much - and I know that part of that is because of all of you. Thank you so, so much. I'm already hard at work on chapter fourteen. I can't stop writing this story!**

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**Chapter Thirteen. **

"Beth, where's T-Dog's file?" Dale asked as he flipped through the files in the drawer.

She stepped away from watering the rubber plant she had bought the week before and had placed in the office window to join Dale at the file drawers. "He's under "D" for Douglas," she said and she wasn't able to help but frown a little when she saw him in the "T" section. "I file by last name," she told her boss.

Dale looked at her as if that was the craziest thing he had ever heard but he flipped to the appropriate drawer and found T-Dog's file immediately. He pulled it out and looked it over, muttering to himself as he read.

Beth sat back down behind her desk and her eyes couldn't help but float towards the inner window, immediately falling upon Daryl at his bay. And as was now becoming habit, her stomach fluttered at the sight of him. She couldn't believe that she was going out on a date with him; that he had _asked_ her to go out on a date with him. She felt as if she was hardly able to think about anything else except what she would wear and where they would go and what they would do. She hoped he didn't plan something extravagant. The perfect night to her would be on the back of his bike, going for a ride with him with no particular destination.

Dale, still muttering, went to the door and opened it, sticking his head out into the garage. "Daryl!" He shouted over the noise.

She loved that the uniform for the mechanics was jeans and a dark blue Dale's Garage tee-shirt because it showed off Daryl's arm muscles perfectly and instead of fluttering, her stomach now clenched and she did her best to just keep breathing as she watched him cross the garage and approach the office.

"Yeah, boss?" Daryl asked, stepping into the office, wiping his hands on the rag he always kept in his back pocket, and Beth pretended to be staring at her computer.

She wondered if he would kiss her on their date or if she would feel brave enough to kiss him. Outside, the night of the roller derby, she had surprised even herself at the surge of bravery she felt when she pushed herself up on her toes and kissed his cheek. She had felt the warmth of his skin and the bristle of his facial hair and she felt the urge to slip her lips over just a little bit so they touched his lips but as soon as she had the thought, she pulled herself away. She couldn't kiss Daryl. She had to be absolutely sure that he wanted to kiss her, too.

She glanced over to him as he talked with Dale over the parts he needed to have ordered to fix T-Dog's car and she had no idea where the image came from but she suddenly saw herself wearing Daryl's garage tee-shirt and nothing else.

She had never had sex before. Before, she had felt too young and hadn't had the interest in it yet, and then she had gotten sick and had been working through that for the past few years and hadn't been mentally or emotionally strong enough to do something like that. That and she hated the idea of anyone seeing her body.

But now, she sat and stared at Daryl and she realized that she wouldn't mind with him. If they ever reached that point with one another, she would be quite happy. She'd be terrified, of course, but she wouldn't stop it from happening. Of course, she was really jumping the gun on this kind of thing. She and Daryl hadn't even gone out on _a_ date and who knew if they would even like one another after it was done?

Dale went into his office with a promise to order the parts and he closed the door behind him. Daryl turned and Beth expected him to go right back into the garage but their eyes met and her heart flipped as she gave him a small, shy smile. She saw his own lips lift in a small smile and she couldn't explain why she felt so relieved at that.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey." He put his hands in the front pockets of his blue jeans and kept his eyes on her. He didn't say anything and she wasn't too entirely sure what to say either but she kept looking at him and he kept looking at her and her smile grew a little. "Do you like lasagna?" He asked her suddenly.

"I do."

"My friend, Carol, made one for me and I've been freezin' it. I was thinkin' you could come over after work tonight for dinner," Daryl said "This wouldn' count as our date," he then quickly added.

"Why not?" She couldn't help but argue. "Sounds like the perfect date to me."

He just shook his head though. "Ain't gonna take you to my trailer for our date."

The phone on her desk began to ring. "I love your trailer," she said right before she picked up. "Good afternoon. Dale's Garage."

He smirked at her and shook her head. "This won't be a date," he said to her before he turned and left the office and she smiled into the phone as she listened to the person on the other end and what they needed.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly as it tended to do when she knew she had plans with Daryl in the evening. She refrained from just sitting there at her desk for the rest of the day and watching him through the window. He made her want to giggle like some silly schoolgirl with her first crush. She was able to busy herself with schedules and phone calls and invoices and when Dale came out of his office a few minutes after five, she looked up in surprise. She looked through the window and sure enough, the other guys were putting on jackets and grabbing car keys and calling out to one another that they'd see them tomorrow.

"Have a good night, Beth. You working much later?" Dale asked as he patted his pockets a few times each.

Beth stood up and shook her head, smiling as she found Dale's car keys from where he had tossed them onto her own desk that morning for some reason. She handed them to him and he smiled warmly at her, taking them.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm actually going out with Daryl for a bite to eat."

A look of curiosity passed over Dale's face for a moment before his smile appeared again. "Good. Have a good night," he said.

"You, too," Beth smiled, watching him go.

"Good night, Daryl!" Dale called out to him as he always did before he was gone and the door closed behind him.

Beth glanced out the window but saw that Daryl was still in the midst of cleaning up his bay and she sat down at her desk, taking the time to clean up her own mess she had made throughout the day. She shut the computer down and filed away all of the folders – by last name – and gathered all of those day's invoices, stapling and organizing into their own folders and filing those in her bottom desk drawer where she kept them for a month before moving away to more permanent filing. When she had gotten the job a few months ago, Daryl had absolutely no system when it came to his paperwork and Beth had spent nearly three days organizing and building her own. Now, she couldn't stand the thought of someone else, especially Dale, touching any piece of paper on her desk unless she personally handed it to them.

"Ready to go?" Daryl suddenly asked, appearing in the doorway.

She lifted her head and smiled at him. "Just about."

"Take your time," he said and then went to sit down in one of the chairs.

Everything was quiet around them except for the turning of pages as she continued gathering paperwork and stapling it together in bundles, making neat piles and writing dates and amounts on post-its, sticking them on top of the appropriate piles. She heard Daryl smirk a little and she lifted her eyes to look at him.

"What?" She wondered, smiling because he was watching her and looked so amused.

"That one day a couple of months back, when you called in sick, Dale came out after bein' behind your desk for a couple hours and said that the next time you're sick, he's just closin' the garage for the day," he said.

Beth felt her cheeks blush at that and she smiled. "Really?"

Daryl nodded his head once. "Said we couldn' do anythin' without you."

She felt a warmth in her at that – that she was needed so badly – and she ducked her head down as if overcome with a sudden bout of shyness. She knew Shawn and Maggie said they needed her. It was the reason why after her daddy's accident, they had called and asked her to come home from Atlanta. To help. But Beth knew that they didn't _really_ need her. If she had been unable to come back, they would have been able to handle everything on their own. Beth knew she was wanted at home so they could all keep an eye on her and not Hershel who had just lost his leg. And sometimes, knowing that, Beth wasn't entirely sure why she came home just so they could all babysit her. They loved her and she loved them but she was different. She was still sick but she was getting better and she wasn't glass.

That was what she told daddy about Daryl. He didn't treat her like glass or like she was about to break. He treated her like Beth. All of these guys did. It made her uncomfortable when they whistled as she walked past or gave her smiles or their best pick-up lines but deep down, the truth was, it was nice to be looked at like a woman to be desired rather than a sick girl who would always be sick. They seemed to need her and actually want her around and Beth knew she had missed feeling like either of those things from anyone. She wondered if she had ever felt that.

"Alright," she slapped her last post-it on the last pile. "I'm ready."

Daryl stood up and she stood up, too, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her head and across her chest.

"I guess I could have gone ahead and preheated the oven or somethin'," he said as they stepped outside and Beth locked the door behind them.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you for keeping me company. I wouldn't have liked to be alone in the garage."

He looked at her then as if that hadn't occurred to him. He shook his head slightly. "I wouldn't have left you alone," he said and she smiled faintly. "Wanna follow me there?" He then asked, tilting his chin towards her car.

She really wanted to ride on the back of his bike but she nodded because she had her car and the farm was so close to the trailer and she didn't want him to have to drive her all the way back to the garage for her car later tonight.

"Or-" he began to say but then cut himself off abruptly.

"Or?" Beth asked curiously, her eyebrows lifting.

"Or," he cleared his throat and seemed to have trouble meeting her eyes. "I could take you to my trailer and then just take you home when we're done and then I could pick you up for work in the mornin'."

He seemed nervous and almost embarrassed to have suggested such a thing but Beth felt her heart skip and race and she smiled, feeling that urge to kiss him but somehow, she was able to fight it off and keep her feet planted on the ground.

"That's the best thing I've ever heard," she said and he looked at her for a moment as if he was studying her to make sure that she really meant it and she smiled at him.

After a moment, he gave another head nod. "This isn't our date," he then reminded her and all she could do was giggle a little because she was going to consider this a date no matter how many times he denied it.

Riding on the back of his motorcycle to eat dinner at his trailer? Just the two of them? It sounded like a date out of her dreams, to be honest.

The ride from the garage to his trailer always took less time than she would have liked and before she knew it, Daryl was pulling to a stop outside his home and she reluctantly slid her arms back from around his waist and climbed off the bike. Following him inside, he turned on the small lamp he had on the end table beside the door and he went straight into the bedroom, coming out and handing her his beat-up cellphone. She smiled at him and then dialed home.

"Hello?" Maggie was the one to pick up.

"Hi, Maggie," Beth realized she couldn't stop smiling and she wondered if Maggie was able to hear that over the phone.

"Still at work?" Maggie asked.

"No. I'm at Daryl's. We're going to eat dinner together and then I'll be home," she said, glancing over her shoulder to Daryl as he read the note of instructions Carol had written out for him and then preheated the oven to the desired temperature.

"Oh," Maggie said and that was all she said and Beth felt her smile slip a little because she couldn't identify her older sister's tone. "Alright, I'll tell Daddy."

And with that, Maggie abruptly ended the call. Beth was frowning now as she pulled the phone away and slowly slapped it shut. She left it on the table and Daryl looked at her, seeing her frown because she was doing nothing to hide it.

"Everything alright?" He asked her and she automatically nodded her head.

"I think so…" she answered but even she could hear the doubt in her own voice. She shook her head slightly and looked at him. "I think she might be a little jealous of you," she then said, wondering if that was it or if she was just making up things.

Daryl's brow furrowed at that. "Your sister?"

"I don't know," Beth was quick to add. "I just… it's just, I'm relaxed when I'm with you and when I'm with her, I'm really not like that. I'd much rather spend my time with you than with her," she admitted, her face feeling warm.

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then shrugged as he looked down to the pan of frozen lasagna on the stovetop. "Maybe if she didn' treat you like she was a prison guard," he said and then he sighed, glancing at her before looking away again. "Sorry. It's none of my business."

Beth didn't tell him that it was but she didn't tell him that he was wrong because he wasn't. That was exactly how Maggie treated her. She wasn't a big sister to her. She was treating Beth like she was a criminal and it was Maggie's job to keep her in line. And Beth understood. She really did. She was so sick and close to dying and Maggie had been so scared. She still was; scared that Beth was going to slip backwards again and nothing or no one would be able to pull her back. But just because she understood didn't mean that Beth didn't wish that Maggie would ease up a little.

She felt herself shiver a little and she crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. The oven beeped when it reached the right degree and Daryl slid the pan in, closing the door again and setting the timer. Beth looked and saw that it was going to take forty-five minutes and she couldn't help but be pleased with that. So much time with Daryl. Without a word, she watched as he then went into the bedroom in the back and came out again a few seconds later.

"Here," he said and he came to her and she saw he was holding a black zipped hooded sweatshirt out to her.

She gave him a soft smile and took it, instantly slipping it on. The sleeves hung past her hands and the bottom hung to her thighs but it was warm and smelled like him and she smiled at him as she wrapped herself in it. Daryl stared at her and didn't say anything but she saw him visibly swallow. She almost wanted to smile a little wider but she didn't want to call attention to his reaction to her. She couldn't help it. She liked knowing that she had as much of an effect on him as he had on her.

She took a small step towards him, her chin tilted upwards so her eyes could stay locked on his face. He didn't move a muscle. He didn't move back but he didn't move closer to her and Beth wondered what he would do if she was to reach out and touch him. She wanted to rest her hands on his chest and raise herself up on her toes and she wanted to press her lips to his. She wanted to do all of these things almost desperately but she still didn't know if he wanted to do those things to her, too.

And until she knew for certain – without a doubt in her mind – she wasn't going to.

A sudden knocking on the trailer door startled them both, both nearly jumping and Daryl moved away from her as quickly as if she was on fire. He went and opened the door and she peeked around him to see that it was Sherriff Grimes.

"Hey, Daryl," the Sherriff said, stepping forward, forcing Daryl to take a step back as he entered the trailer. He stopped short however when he saw Beth standing there. He looked at her for a moment and then smiled, looking back to Daryl. Daryl only frowned as he looked down to the floor and Sherriff Grimes looked back to Beth, tipping his hat to her slightly. "Evening, Beth," he said.

She did her best to smile. "Good evening, Sherriff."

She knew that Daryl and Sherriff Grimes were close friends – probably best friends – having known one another since school. The Sherriff's office had their own mechanic to work on their squad cars but the Sherriff always brought his into Dale's, never wanting anyone but Daryl to work on his.

"Smells good in here," the Sherriff commented.

"Just makin' some dinner," Daryl grumbled, looking at him again. "What's goin' on?"

"Sorry for interrupting your evening," he said, more to Beth than to Daryl, and then looked to Daryl. "Let's talk outside," he suggested and Daryl didn't hesitate in stepping outside, Sherriff Grimes following him after giving Beth one more warm smile and tip of his hat.

The door shut behind them and Beth stood in the middle of the quiet trailer, tightening his sweatshirt around her as she felt another chill. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself so she moved towards the couch, sitting down. She looked to the stack of books he had on the end table and she smiled when she saw not only _White Fang_ but _Call of the Wild_ there, too.

And next to the books, she nearly stopped breathing when she saw that he had placed the turtle shell she had given him. He hadn't thought it was too weird and he hadn't thrown it away like she had thought. He had kept it and had it out in the open and she looked at it for a moment, carefully picking it up and holding it in her hands.

Beth suddenly didn't care what Daryl wanted. She really, _really_, had to kiss him.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review! Thank you!**


	14. Chapter 14

**So it's becoming normal for this story that as soon as I finish one chapter, I start the next one. I seriously can't stop writing this one. Just two things to remember - this is still going to be a slow burn between Beth and Daryl and Merle, for the most part, has turned his life around. I've never really written Merle like this but I know most were expecting it to be about him when Rick showed up in the last chapter. Thank you for all of the reviews, support and love for this story!**

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**Chapter Fourteen. **

He kept his head under the hood, working on the dead alternator – a problem he was able to fix with his eyes closed – so he didn't really have to think about it and was able to watch Beth through the office window. She was sitting behind her desk and Zach was on the other side, leaning into it, saying something to her with a grin. The kid had gone in there to hand her a customer invoice and was still there nearly five minutes later. Not that Daryl was keeping track.

Beth was smiling faintly in return and Daryl kept reminding himself that of course Beth was smiling because that was just who she was. She smiled at everyone and Zach wasn't anyone special. He wasn't. The kid had been after her since the day Beth had started working there but she had never taken him up on any of his invites. Instead, she smiled at Daryl and went for rides on his bike with her arms around his waist and came over for dinner when he invited her. She wasn't interested in Zach and Daryl knew he was being ridiculous that he had to remind himself anything when it was just so damn obvious.

Or was it? He knew it wasn't. They were always the first ones to arrive at the garage in the mornings so no one saw it when he drove her and it wasn't as if he and Beth had made an announcement one morning to the garage that they were going out on a date; a date Daryl still had to take her on because he had absolutely no idea what to do. Dinner and a movie? Isn't that what dates usually were? He had asked Rick about it and that was what he had suggested they do but Daryl was still unsure. It just all sounded so damn boring and typical and he wanted to do something with Beth that millions of other guys didn't do for the girls they took out.

But it had been nearly two weeks since he had asked her out and he still hadn't gone through with it even though they seemed to spend time together nearly every night after work. And every night, Daryl told her that this wasn't their first date and Beth just smiled and laughed softly at that and he knew that she was fine with always hanging out in his trailer but taking her back to his trailer was _not_ a date.

Deciding he needed a cup of coffee from the pot Beth brewed in the office every morning, he pulled his head out from the car and wiped his hands on the rag as he crossed the garage, pausing in the doorway when Zach said something and then laughed at whatever it was, Beth still smiling at whatever it was but not laughing.

Daryl didn't say anything as he went to the small machine on the table and poured himself a cup. He had his back to them and he took his time fixing himself a cup but he couldn't help as the clenching of his jaw grew tighter as he listened to Zach telling Beth all about some party his friends from college were throwing that weekend and Beth just had to come because there would be a pizza eating contest and two kegs and Daryl wondered if Zach knew Beth at all because Daryl knew that nothing about that sounded appealing to Beth. Of course he didn't know her though. He was just going after her because Beth was a pretty girl and she kept turning him down.

"Zach!" Dale suddenly barked from his office. "Leave Beth alone and get back to work!" He shouted to him and Daryl had never loved the old man more than he did right then. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Zach give Beth a wink before he sauntered out of the office.

Daryl told himself that throwing coffee on his coworker was never something to do.

When he turned around, Beth let out a small sigh of relief and then looked to Daryl with a soft, warm smile.

"Hey, you," she said and there was something about the greeting that had his stomach flipping around as if he had just drunken way too much booze.

"Hey," he grunted. He took a sip of coffee even though the charade of needing to get some was no longer needed and he didn't even really like coffee.

And Beth knew that because she just kept smiling at him. "Do you want to split lunch today?" She asked.

"What'd you have in mind?" He asked though he knew that anything she wanted to get, he would eat.

She laughed a little and stood up to go to the file drawer to get something. "Well, Zach just put me in the mood for pizza. Maybe we could get one delivered?"

His lips twitched a little at that and nodded. "Sounds good."

He went into the small employee bathroom to pour the coffee down the drain and to rinse out the cup and when he turned to leave, he nearly leapt back a step when he saw Beth suddenly in the doorway.

She looked at him, stared at him, intently and silently as if in deep concentration. And then, without saying a word, she stepped fully into the bathroom to join him and she closed the door behind her. Daryl felt his throat grow thick and he tried to remind himself to keep breathing while keeping an appropriate distance between them though the bathroom was so damn small and there was nowhere for him to go.

"Daryl," she said his name quietly, her eyes still on him. "Are you ever going to take me out on our date?" She asked him and the question didn't surprise him but he still felt suddenly winded as if she had just punched him.

He nodded and swallowed, trying to gain use of his voice again. "Course I am. I'm just tryin' to think of somethin' for us to do."

"Why do you think I need something special?" She asked with her head tilted slightly to the side.

She took a small step towards him and it was just like how it had been in his trailer a few nights earlier before Rick had come and interrupted them. She had stepped into his space and hadn't stopped staring up at him and she looked like she wanted to kiss him and he nearly started shaking because he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He wanted her so bad, he dreamt about her and then woke up in pain and he had to take care of himself in his tiny shower. But he couldn't kiss her here in some tiny shitty bathroom in some shitty garage. Beth deserved to have kisses in settings just as pretty and awesome as she was.

Daryl shook his head slightly as if he didn't know why she didn't get it. "'cause you're special," he said in a soft voice, his eyes hardly able to look at her now.

The bathroom was silent after that except the drip of water from the faucet in the sink and the air felt so heavy, swirling around him, he wondered if she was able to breathe because he suddenly was having a hell of a time.

"Daryl," she whispered his name and he finally looked at her again.

But his eyes were only able to focus on her for a moment before she was right up against him. It all happened within a second – the feel of her body pressing against his, her hands sliding up his chest and then lifting to his face, her fingers pushing his hair back and then her lips on his. Her lips were soft and almost hesitant against his but the instant he felt them, he nearly groaned and the dam of control he had been fighting when beside her for so long now split open and he was lost.

He heard her gasp a little with surprise when he pushed back against her. His hands found her hips and he pushed her backwards until her back hit the door and he wondered if he was just too rough with her. But when he thought to begin to pull away, Beth's fingers tightened in his hair and she pressed her body a little harder against his and Daryl sank against her, his mouth kissing her hungrily and urgently.

His arms slid around her ridiculously small waist and her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he felt like he was crushing her body to his but she wasn't squirming to get away. If anything, she kept herself pressed against him as if desperate to get closer. And Daryl held onto her tightly, wondering how he had managed to last this long without feeling her body against his.

She tasted sweet – like peaches and cream – and there wasn't a single part of him that was surprised. It flooded his mouth and pulsed through his body and he nearly groaned as every inch of him reacted to her, his jeans beginning to feel tight and the rest of his body straining like a rubber band being pulled to its maximum stretch.

He almost smiled when he finally pulled his mouth back and she whimpered softly with protest. He looked at her, keeping her body still pinned to his and his face still close to hers, and it took her almost a minute for her eyes to flutter open. Her skin was flushed and her lips were swollen and he couldn't believe that this girl had just kissed him and that she had let him kiss her in return.

She looked at him curiously but she didn't have to ask the question.

"We're at work," he explained. "Can't kiss you like this while we're at work."

Beth nodded and he was honestly surprised she didn't argue. He looked at her and wondered where that girl was who always kept her eyes down and blushed too much because that girl and this girl who had just pushed him into the bathroom to kiss the hell out of him couldn't have possibly been the same girl.

She kept his hair back from his face as she looked into his eyes. "Will you come over to my house tomorrow night after work?" She asked. He must have looked confused because she smiled a little. "My daddy's been wanting to meet you again."

Daryl did his best to swallow past the sudden cotton ball lodged in his throat. He had already met and spoken with Hershel Greene but why did he feel like this time, meeting him would be different? What would Beth say he was? Was he still just her friend or was he maybe something more? He didn't even know what he wanted to be. He still couldn't even quite believe that they had just kissed. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that he and Beth were spending so much time together; that they were friends and now they had kissed and he didn't know what the hell to think or do.

"Uh, sure," he heard himself stutter.

Beth smiled brightly at him and he swore he saw relief in her eyes and he didn't really blame her because even though he had given her an answer, he still felt unsure. She gave his shoulders a squeeze and he wondered if he should kiss her again – he knew he wanted to – but she turned away from him, slipping out of the bathroom first and closing the door behind her. Daryl took a moment, leaning against the wall, trying to breathe and calm himself – _all_ of him – down again before leaving that tiny space that still smelled like Beth and going back into the garage.

After a few deep breaths, he finally left the bathroom. Beth was behind her desk, talking on the phone, and their eyes locked for a moment before she looked away, smiling faintly and her cheeks blushing. Daryl couldn't help but have his own lips twitch as he headed back out to the garage.

As his head returned to under the hood and he began work once again on the dead alternator and tried his hardest not think of Beth or her hands or lips, a car pulled into the garage lot and moments later, he heard feet approaching him from behind.

Daryl lifted his head, flicking his head to get the hair out of his eyes, and he saw Rick coming towards him. And it looked like the man needed to talk. The man always needed to talk nowadays, it seemed, and as his best friend, Daryl filled in the role as his confidant – which Daryl was more than fine with except when Rick showed up at the trailer and interrupted time with Beth but he wasn't going to be mad about it. Daryl knew that if the tables were flipped, Rick would listen to him no matter what.

Without a word, Daryl met him halfway and they went back out to the parking lot. Daryl pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and lit one as Rick stood there, fiddling with his Sherriff's hat. They had grown up together – meeting in elementary school and for a long time, besides Merle, Rick was his only friend; the only kid allowed to play with him. When his mom died and Merle split, leaving him alone to be his old man's punching bag, the Grimes family had him over as much as possible and did everything to stop him from dropping out of high school and following after Merle when his older brother came back. When Daryl finally returned to town a few years later, ready to get his life in order, Rick accepted him right back into his family as if he hadn't been gone at all.

"I did what you said," Rick said.

Daryl's brow furrowed a little. "What did I say to do?"

"Follow her. I followed her. To the grocery store. The library. She didn't go anywhere." Rick sighed heavily and Daryl wanted to tell him that he was just kidding when he told Rick to follow his wife; something he said just to say something but if Rick had actually gone through with and done it, Daryl wasn't going to tell him he shouldn't have done it.

Daryl liked Lori Grimes. She was a nice woman; had always been nice to him, and Rick was crazy about her. Together, they had two kids – Carl and Judith – and if Daryl didn't know any better, he would think their life was perfect. But Rick was beginning to suspect that Lori was having an affair and Daryl had spent nights listening to the man's theories and that small evidence he had gathered in his defense. She was happier – which Daryl had thought was a crazy ass reason to think a wife was cheating but Rick explained that her skin was glowing and her eyes were bright in a way he hadn't seen in years and he said there was no reason for her to be looking like that again all of a sudden. There were other little things. She was working out, getting her body back in shape, never letting him see her cell phone when his own had gone dead, encouraging him to go to that Law Enforcement Conference in Atlanta for the weekend.

Daryl didn't want to think that about Lori but at the same time, if Rick was so convinced, all Daryl could really do was show his support to him since Rick was his friend – practically another brother.

"It's Shane's day off tomorrow. Maybe I should have him tail her all day," Rick said.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and puffed his cigarette. "If you think it'll help," he offered because again, he had no idea what to say.

Rick sighed heavily but didn't say anything.

Daryl dropped his cigarette – half finished – to the asphalt and stubbed it out. "When you were first goin' out with Lori and you met her folks, what did you wear?" He heard himself ask even though he really wished he would have done what he always did and kept silent – especially with the grin Rick was slowly giving him.

"I thought you already met Hershel," Rick said, his grin never slipping.

Daryl sighed. "Forget it," he shook his head.

Rick let out a laugh. "Well, I don't see myself doing that. Are you going for dinner?"

Daryl hated himself for bringing this up but he felt himself shrug his shoulders. "Don't know. Beth just asked me if I wanted to go over tomorrow after work."

"Definitely dinner," Rick nodded. "Taking flowers? Wine?" Daryl looked at him as if he had sprouted two heads and Rick laughed again. "You should at least get Beth flowers," Rick said.

"You think she'll like that?" Daryl was frowning now because he had no idea what the hell was going on. They had kissed but that didn't have to mean anything, did it? Did that mean that he had to bring her flowers and wear a tie when he met her daddy for the second time because Beth should know that that wasn't him.

"You tell me," Rick said. "Most girls seem to like it when they get flowers."

Daryl just kept frowning and by the time Rick left and he returned to the car in his bay, his head was pounding with a headache. He glanced towards the office to see Beth at her desk, writing and stapling papers and answering the phone all at the same time.

She had kissed him first, yes, but he had kissed her back and he wondered what the hell he had just gotten himself into with her.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**The outline I have made for this story shows that the drama between Beth and Daryl will begin in chapter seventeen. **

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…

**Chapter Fifteen.**

He was late. By nearly nine minutes. And she knew this because she was watching the clock as much as she was the front door. Her stomach was in a series of knots and she felt like she was going to throw up even though there wasn't that much in her stomach at the moment. She felt like she couldn't breathe and her lungs were hurting with the effort.

When she had left the garage after the work day, she had smiled at Daryl and told him to come by around six. And he had grunted as he nodded his head and she had just assumed that that meant he would be coming. But maybe he wasn't. Maybe she had just assumed that he was. Yesterday, in the bathroom after their kiss, she had asked and he had agreed but she had noticed that almost immediately after, he had acted distant from her; almost like how he used to act when she had first started working at the garage. She wondered what had happened. Had she done something? Should she not have invited him to her house this evening? Should she not have kissed him? But he had kissed her back – rather enthusiastically – and even nearly thirty-six hours later, her lips still trembled when she thought about it.

And she was always thinking about it.

She felt the burning of tears forming in her eyes but she forced herself to let none fall as the grandfather's clock behind her chimed. He was now fifteen minutes late and she felt her stomach drop with the clock's bong. He wasn't coming. She knew it. And everything in her body twisted and ached and she didn't understand what had happened because she had thought everything between Daryl and herself was going great. She wasn't exactly sure what it actually was between them but whatever it was, she had been so happy with their budding whatever and had wanted more.

And now, crushed with disappointment, she felt like an idiot.

She heard footsteps behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see Maggie coming down the front stairs. She stopped herself on the second to last one and looked at Beth for a moment. Beth knew she probably didn't mean to but she hated the look of pity in Maggie's eyes. It was the only way Maggie looked at her now. With pity or with anger and she couldn't even really remember how it was between the two of them before her mom died and before she got sick. Beth knew it was never going to be like that between them again.

Beth turned her head and looked back out the front screen door though there was no reason. No pickup truck. No roar of a motorcycle. The evening was quiet except for a few chirping birds in the trees and cicadas.

"I'm sorry, Bethy," Maggie said from behind her and the words made her feel cold, goosebumps fleshing across her skin.

Beth didn't say anything, not trusting her voice to speak without shaking. So instead, she just nodded her head once and stepped outside. Her throat scratched and the tears were burning and brimming and she knew she had to get away from there before she completely fell apart.

Disappointment and anger and hurt crushed around her all at once and she felt her head spinning as she managed to walk down the porch steps. She couldn't believe Daryl would do this. She had thought… he cared about her, didn't he? She thought of all of the little gifts he gave her and the motorcycle rides and the time spent together in his trailer. It all had to mean something, didn't it? Or had she just built it up and created something entirely fictional in her mind?

She wore the small compass he had given her around her neck and her fingers clasped around it now as she began walking. She didn't dare walk in the direction of his trailer. Instead, she faced the completely opposite direction and started that way. She just needed to get away; maybe just keep walking and walking and not stopping until she was far away from here.

She never should have come back. Her brother and sister didn't need her. Not even her daddy needed her because even with just one leg now, he was still as capable as ever. She thought of her little apartment in Atlanta that she had shared with her roommate, Rosita – a girl she had met in one of the recovery clinics, Rosita recovering from cutting. The two had met and had bonded instantly and when they were both released, they had decided to become roommates, knowing they could help one another stay on the right path. Rosita had been disappointed when Beth had to move back home and Beth wondered if she had found another roommate or if Beth was still able to move back.

She hadn't talked to Rosita in weeks and she now felt immensely guilty for that. But everything with Daryl – this newfound happiness – it had taken over her mind, it seemed, and now Beth hated herself a little for letting it do so.

The tears began to fall though she did her hardest to stop them and they streamed down her cheeks. Why had she allowed herself to get close to Daryl? She should have just kept her distance and watched him from afar as she had been doing. But there was just something about him that pulled her in. He didn't treat her like glass. Isn't that how she kept explaining it to herself? But now, she saw the truth. He didn't treat her like anything. He was obviously sorry he had kissed her if he had blown her off tonight after saying he would come and everything that had happened before – the gifts and the dinners and asking her out on a date – maybe he had just been bored or he wanted to show the guys at the garage that he could get something the others couldn't get close to.

None of that felt right though. It didn't make any sense. And she couldn't believe that Daryl had done any of those things over the past few weeks just because he had been _bored_. She was still getting to know him but it just didn't seem like him at all.

Just as she had stepped into the woods, she heard it and her ears perked up as if she was a dog perking up at the slightest sound. A motorcycle. A _familiar_ motorcycle. She nearly gasped and she instantly turned around. She squinted her eyes in the fading sunlight and sure enough, coming down the dirt drive, still a bit in the distance, was a bike. She didn't have to see who it was to know it was Daryl. Daryl had come. He hadn't blown her off. He was here.

She wanted to laugh and burst into song and dance and her heart began fluttering as she began walking quickly back across the field, not quite running but walking so fast, her feet would skip together every few steps. Daryl must have spotted her because once he was closer, he began to slow down and his bike stopped just outside the front gates. She didn't stop and came hurrying right to him. She wiped at her cheeks and gave him a smile and he looked at her, not taking his eyes from her as he climbed off his bike. He was wearing jeans – no holes, she noted – and a clean flannel shirt. Without a word, she went right up to him and standing on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him.

He hesitated only a moment before she felt his hands – one at her elbow and one on her back and his scruffy cheek was against her temple.

"Hey," he greeted and his voice rumbled against her. "'m sorry I'm late."

And Beth felt like crying again but for a whole other reason but she made sure to stop herself before she could. She didn't want to cry in front of Daryl for any reason. She _never_ wanted to appear weak in front of him. More than enough people already saw her as nothing but.

"It's alright," she said, pulling back from him, her arms falling down to her sides. "I'm glad you're here. I thought…" she trailed off and he looked into her red eyes and it was pretty obvious what she had thought.

He shook his head a little. "I had stayed late at the garage," he said. "And by the time I got out of there… I couldn' come covered in grease and oil," he explained and Beth felt her lips turning upwards in a smile. He looked down to what she was wearing and her own eyes fell down to her appearance. A simple black lace dress but she had made sure it wasn't too fancy and had put her Converse sneakers on her feet. "I didn' know if you wanted me wearin' a tie," he then mumbled.

"No," Beth finally found her voice to speak again. "Definitely not. That's not you."

"Didn' bring you flowers either," he said and she noticed he had a hard time keeping contact with her eyes all of a sudden.

"Why would you bring me flowers?" She asked, truly perplexed and not hiding it.

He shrugged and swallowed, looking back towards his bike. "I did bring somethin'…" he said, trailing off as he walked to the bag at the side.

She couldn't see what it was as he dug around for it but when he turned back towards her and she saw the Hershey chocolate bar in his hand, she burst into a smile. Without a word, he handed it to her and she took it, clutching it in both hands and hugging it to her chest. She beamed at him and he smiled a little, too.

"Daryl, I love it," she smiled. "Thank you. _So_ much better than flowers."

The tips of his ears turned red and she was clearly embarrassing him but she didn't care because he had come and he was still looking at her and she stepped forward, her arms sliding around his waist this time as she hugged him.

She felt like she could breathe again.

…

Daryl was a quiet man but that didn't seem to bother Hershel as he took over most of the conversation at the dinner table, telling stories about church and the farm and stories of Beth when she was younger that had her blushing and telling her daddy to stop. Of course, that only encouraged him more and Shawn joined in. Hershel sat at the head of the table in the dining room as Beth and Daryl sat on one side and Maggie and Shawn sat on the other. They had roasted chicken and potatoes and fresh green beans from the garden and Beth looked at Daryl every time he answered one of Hershel's questions – usually about the garage or cars in general or hunting. She wondered if Daryl was puzzled about Hershel knowing he hunted. Beth wasn't going to tell him that she had told her daddy all about him already.

"Get enough to eat, son?" Hershel asked as the meal neared the end.

"More than enough. Thank you, sir," Daryl said.

"Hershel," he reminded him for the fifth time that evening. "And what about you, Beth?" Her daddy turned his eyes on her.

Beth gave a small smile and nodded. "Yes. I'm comfortably full."

"Good," Hershel reached over and patted her hand. He then looked to Maggie. "I do believe we have dessert?"

Maggie, who had been silent the entire meal, sighed and looked to Shawn, who was grinning beside her, before looking back to Hershel. "We _did_ have dessert. Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, daddy. Your favorite. But then someone helped himself to the whole dozen."

"In my defense," Shawn spoke up. "Otis helped me."

"How is that a defense?" Maggie frowned at him.

"Well, I figured, you all were tired of the I'm-just-an-idiot defense," Shawn said and from the corner of her eye, Beth could see Daryl smirk a little at that. "And what about you?" Shawn frowned back to Maggie. "Who leaves cookies just sitting on the counter like that?"

"They were cooling, you idiot," Maggie said, standing up and taking hers and Hershel's plates. "You could have at least saved one for Beth."

And there it was. Beth felt terrible for being a little grateful that her sister hadn't said a word during dinner, not wanting her eating habits on full display in front of Daryl, knowing that Daryl was reminded enough about them every day. But with one comment – a seemingly innocent comment – Beth felt the back of her neck prick with hot pokers and she suppressed a sigh.

"Why for me?" Beth asked, trying to sound light. "They're daddy's favorite cookies."

Maggie just blinked at her as if she didn't understand what Beth had said. "You know why," Maggie said.

Beth sighed softly but didn't say anything.

"I brought Beth a chocolate bar," Daryl suddenly spoke up and Beth couldn't help but look at Daryl with surprise in her eyes. "Maybe you can sit and watch her eat that if you want," he shrugged.

And suddenly, she wanted to just grab him and kiss him and she had to remind herself that she couldn't do that in front of her daddy. But she felt a warmth start in the center of her chest that spread throughout her entire body within seconds.

She looked back to Maggie and saw her sister visibly stiffen, her fingers tightening around the plates she held in her hands.

"What do you know about it?" Maggie said, clearing ready for a fight.

"Maggie, stop," Hershel jumped in. "Daryl is our guest."

Maggie snorted but didn't say anything and she spun on her heel, going into the kitchen. A second later, they heard the dishes clang in the sink.

"Beth," Hershel said, his voice gentle. "Why don't you take Daryl outside? Show him some of the farm?"

Beth nodded, instantly getting to her feet, and Daryl followed. She tried not to make it obvious that she was hurrying from the house even though she just wanted to take Daryl's hand and run out the front door. Out on the front porch, she stopped and looked at him and Daryl stood there, his hands in his jean pockets and he looked at her in return, not saying anything.

"Thank you for doing that," she said softly.

"Didn' do nothin'," he shrugged and she took a step towards him.

"Yes, you did, and thank you," she said again, tilting her chin and looking up at him.

"Tired of how she's always suffocatin' you and I ain't even around for most of it," he then said gruffly.

Beth wasn't too sure what to say to that. Her first instinct was to stick up for and defend Maggie but it was true. She did suffocate her and everyone knew it. She knew that if Maggie could forcibly shove food down her throat, she would.

"You should come stay with me," he said suddenly, blurting it out, and Beth felt her eyes instantly widen at the suggestion.

And he seemed to be just as surprised and stunned by his own words because he stared at her with slightly wide eyes.

A part of Beth told herself to just ignore what he had just said but how on earth could she just pretend that he hadn't said what he had just said? She felt her heart race up a bit as she continued looking at him. He didn't mean it. She told herself that there was no way he meant it and yet, he wasn't taking it back. Why wasn't he telling her to just forget it; that he didn't mean it or something along those lines?

"Stay with you?" She asked barely above a whisper and she sounded breathless for some reason.

He shrugged, glancing at her before looking away. "Just for a few days. Just so you can breathe easier. 's just an idea."

"It's a really good idea," Beth was quick to say and her heart was beating even faster.

She didn't know what else to say because suddenly, staying with Daryl for a few days was the best thing she had ever heard. Being in his trailer in the middle of the woods with no one else around except just the two of them sounded as close to Heaven as she had imagined it would be on this earth. To not have to think about her eating or be so conscious of everything she was putting in her mouth or worry about upsetting or angering Maggie, it all sounded almost too good to be true. And being alone with Daryl… that was what really was making her heart fly and her stomach flutter. Just her and Daryl. And she wasn't even imagining anything between them. Just the idea of being with him and spending time with him, she almost felt herself suddenly ache, she wanted that so badly.

There was no way her daddy would ever let her go. Stay with a man she wasn't married to? No way was Hershel going to give her permission. But then again, did she really need it? She would like it yes, but she technically was an adult and again, _technically_, she could do anything she wanted.

"Daryl," she said softly and he finally, slowly, moved his eyes back to her. "I…" she shook her head slightly. "You don't have to save me. You don't… you don't have to feel any sort of obligation towards me."

The words felt thick in her throat and she did her past to swallow past them. She was tired of so many people in her life thinking she wasn't capable of anything and though she knew that Daryl didn't look to her as if she was his responsibility, still, it was something she worried about. She supposed she would worry about that if it was anyone offering to open their home to her but with Daryl, it was different. Everything with him was different because _he_ was different.

Daryl frowned a little as he looked at her. "I know you can take care of yourself, Beth... And I'm not lookin' to do that for you. I jus'…" he trailed off because already, he had said so many words and Daryl definitely wasn't a big talker like this. She didn't push him to say more and watched as he shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I'm jus' lookin' to help if you let me."

Beth looked at him. She didn't see a white knight in shining armor. She just saw a man who seemed to genuinely like her. And he was giving her place where she could just _be_. With him.

She said his name softly, as if saying it in a prayer, and Daryl looked at her again. She didn't say anything else and he had already said more than enough. She rested her hands on his shoulders, stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I have wound up making a few changes to my original outline. **

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**Chapter Sixteen. **

It was unexpected to say the least but as soon as the suggestion of her staying with him for a few days left his mouth, he didn't try to take it back because, he realized, he wanted her to come and stay with him. The trailer was too small and neither of them would probably be comfortable but he could only imagine it would be alright.

Hershel took it better than Daryl would have ever thought. He had looked shocked and surprised at first when Beth had told him that she was going to be staying with Daryl for a few days but after a few minutes of silently sitting there and staring at Daryl in such a way, he felt like squirming, Hershel then looked to Beth who looked at her daddy with those big blue, sad eyes of hers and they seemed to be communicating with one another without ever speaking a word.

"Go on then," Hershel said, tilting his chin towards the stairs. "Go and get yourself packed. I need to talk with Daryl for a moment."

Beth had hugged him and kissed him and smiled at Daryl before hurrying past him and they heard her steps on the stairs, fading away as she disappeared upstairs. Daryl looked at Hershel and Hershel looked at him and Daryl was smart enough to feel nervous because even though the man only had one leg, Daryl could sense that this man was a tough son of a bitch and could still kick an ass if he wanted to.

"Beth is one of the most precious things to me in this world," Hershel stated as if Daryl hadn't already been able to figure that out for himself. "But my daughter has gone through something I still can't understand and never will be able to. She's still going through it." Hershel's eyes were steady on him. "My daughter is still sick, Daryl. But when she's with you, I am able to see a bit of the girl she was before."

Daryl wasn't too sure what to say to any of this. Yes, Beth was sick but Beth was tough and he didn't understand why no one in her family was able to see that, too.

"I think spending time with you is good for her," Hershel finished. "But Beth is a good girl and she better come home a good girl."

Daryl felt the back of his neck flush at what Hershel was saying though he had been expecting the man to say something like that in regards to his daughter. How could he not? Hershel was a church-going man and Beth was his youngest daughter who was going off to live with some mechanic in his trailer. And though he liked Beth – a hell of a lot – and felt fiercely attracted to her, Daryl didn't know if he would ever get to that point of doing something like that with her.

And what about her? She was a pretty young woman but he just couldn't imagine her wanting to do anything like that with him. There still seemed so many parts of her that seemed too young and too innocent and in his mind, Daryl knew he didn't want to be the one to take that away from her – no matter how many times he had already imagined running his hands all over her.

"Yes, sir," Daryl said, nodding perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Maggie, stop!" They suddenly heard Beth shout from upstairs. "I'm going!"

Hershel sighed and grabbing his crutches, he pulled himself off from the couch. He began walking towards the stairs but stopped himself beside Daryl, looking at him. "It will be good for Beth to get away from Maggie for a few days," he said. "Ever since Bethy's mother passed and she got sick, Maggie has felt the need to take over the mother role."

Daryl had to practically bite down on his tongue before he blurted something out that he would probably regret. Like how could Hershel just sit around and let Maggie practically take over every facet of Beth's life, making her feel miserable and so damn guilty nearly every damn day of her life?

But he made sure to not say anything. He may have kissed Beth a few times but that still didn't give him a right to know anything concerning the Greene family. It wasn't any of his business. He just knew what he saw and what he saw was he had to get Beth the hell out of there so she could breathe for once.

A moment later, they heard hurried steps down the stairs and it was Beth, her eyes wet but her cheeks dry and there was a gym bag slung over her shoulder. Daryl reached out and took it, slinging it onto his own shoulder.

"I already said goodbye to Shawn," Beth said and then hugged Hershel tightly, the man hugging her in return and patting her on the back. "Bye, daddy. See you in a few days," she said and Daryl found himself wondering just how many days were a few; how many days he wanted it to be.

"Bye Bethy, love you," Hershel said.

"Love you, too," Beth said as she pulled back and after giving Hershel one more smile, she looked back to Daryl, her smile softening. "Ready?" She asked.

"Definitely," Daryl didn't hesitate in nodding his head and he felt the need to toss her over his shoulder then and carry her out of there. Instead, he stepped aside so she could exit the house first and he and Hershel exchanged one last look and head nod before Daryl followed after her.

He strapped her bag down to the back of his bike and then climbed on, Beth immediately climbing on behind him with her arms around his waist. The ride back to his trailer was only a few minutes away and yet, it felt like he had just taken her far into another world; and it was exactly what she needed because when she stepped off the bike and he looked at her, her smile was lighter and easier and all signs of moisture in her eyes were now completely gone.

Inside the trailer, Daryl went right into the bedroom and set the bag down onto the bed, glad he had made it from the night before. He looked and saw Beth lingering in the kitchen, looking around as if this was the first time she had been inside.

"You're takin' the bed," he told her. "I'll take the couch."

Beth instantly shook her head. "No, Daryl. That's not right."

"I'm not havin' you sleep on the couch," he frowned at her. "It's just a double so it's not the biggest bed but it's comfortable. You should sleep good on it." She was frowning at him in return and she opened her mouth but Daryl wasn't going to hear it. "There's a space heater in here so turn it on if you get cold. We just have to make sure we unplug it 'fore we leave in the mornin'," he continued. "I think I might have an extra blanket around here. Know how cold you get."

Beth finally took the steps forward and she stepped in the small bedroom. She had never been in it before and he watched her as she looked around – not that there was much space to look around. Just the bed and a dresser and a tiny closet. It was a bit messy with a few of his clothes lying on the floor and he began scooping those up now, going to the closet and dropping the armful onto the floor.

"It ain't much-" he began to say.

"It's perfect," she cut him off, looking at him, and he didn't know why but he felt the tips of his ears turn red as he looked at her.

He suddenly wondered how smart it was of him to have Beth Greene living with him. Maybe years of his old man beating him up, he had become the sort of person who liked putting themselves through pain because having her there with him in his tiny trailer – just the two of them – it was already beginning to feel like torture.

It was too early to go to sleep and he slipped past her to leave the room and head out to the front of the trailer. He sat down on the couch and took off his boots, setting them down on the floor side by side beside the couch and he picked up the television remote, picking it up and turning the box across from him on. He saw the bedroom door close and he wondered if she was already lying down. He made sure the television wasn't too loud as he started watching an old episode of _Law and Order_. He remembered being a little kid and the television set blaring all night and how hard sometimes it was to go to sleep with the noise. Yet another reason why he loved living in the middle of the woods. Besides the wind and the animals, it was so damn quiet. It was – as Beth said – perfect.

The door opened and he glanced to see that she had changed into her pajamas – some little shorts and a tee-shirt and then she went into the bathroom, sliding the door shut and he heard the water in the sink running. When she came out a few minutes later, she stood there and he muted the television, looking at her.

"Do you need anything from your room?" She asked.

"Yeah," he realized and pulled himself off the couch, walking past her and coming out a few seconds later with a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt to sleep in and the extra pillow from the bed.

"I feel bad-" she began to say.

"G'night, Beth," he cut her off.

She looked up at him, her mouth still open slightly as if she was going to speak but he just looked at her and slowly, her lips closed and she nodded her head.

"Good night, Daryl," she said. She put a hand on his arm and then standing on her toes, she kissed him lightly on the lips – so light, he hardly felt it at all. "Thank you for everything," she whispered then before she turned and went into the bedroom, closing the door but not all of the way, it being left open a crack.

After changing and making sure the door was locked and then getting himself situated on the couch with the pillow and green blanket, he watched the rest of the episode before turning the television off and settling himself down to go to sleep.

But he found himself lying there, blinking up at the ceiling. The world was quiet around him except the crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl in a nearby tree. And yet, Daryl laid there and didn't feel as if sleep was coming to him anytime soon. He was too aware of Beth sleeping in _his_ bed just a few feet away and he laid there, picturing her sleeping and what it would be like sleeping next to her.

…

It was a small town and Daryl couldn't figure it out how anyone found out but by the next afternoon, everyone seemed to know that Beth was staying with him for a few days and while Axel and Martinez grinned and slapped him on the back as if they were congratulating him for a job well done, Zach frowned and glared at him as if Daryl had betrayed him in some way though Daryl wanted to remind Zach that he didn't even really like him and he never had a shot with Beth anyway. But Daryl kept his mouth shut and felt the glares thrown at his back for the rest of the day.

Before lunch, Beth came out to the garage, approaching him with a small smile. He lifted his head and flicked his hair and remembered how she had taken a shower that morning and the entire trailer smelled like her afterwards. When he had been in the bathroom, he had looked in the tiny shower and found a bottle of buttercream-scented body wash that she used and now, he wondered if the smell was permanently trapped in his nostrils because he didn't smell oil or metal that day. He smelled nothing but buttercream.

She smiled shyly at him. "Your brother's on the phone," she said and he nodded, grabbing the rag and wiping his hands as he followed her into the office. She sat back down behind her desk and he grabbed the phone's receiver.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"You and the missus wanna come over for dinner tonight?" Merle asked with a grin and Daryl swallowed a sigh, wondering how the hell he heard about him and Beth.

Without a word to Merle, Daryl looked to Beth.

"Wanna go over to Merle and Annie's for dinner tonight?" He asked and she almost looked surprised at him actually asking her.

She smiled then and nodded. "Alright."

"Yeah," Daryl spoke into the phone.

"Good," Merle said, his grin forever present. "I'll tell Annie. Come by 'round six." He paused but Daryl knew his brother wasn't done yet. Merle was never done. "Glad you finally made a move, baby brother," he chuckled. "Livin' with her already might be too soon though."

"Shut up, Merle," he grumbled and hung up on his brother's laughter.

He looked at Beth and she looked at him and gave him a small, hesitant smile. Beth wasn't an idiot and even if she was, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Merle had been ribbing him about the two of them. Daryl was going to try to ignore it though. Merle had been talking shit to him for his entire life and he had learned early on that the only way to get through it was to just ignore him.

"We'll head over there after work," he said and Beth nodded, the same small smile across her lips. She seemed nervous and he couldn't figure out why.

And he couldn't help but frown as he walked into the garage back to his bay. Why would she feel nervous? He replayed that morning. They had gotten up and each had gotten ready for work and they each had a bowl of generic Cheerios and he drank his coffee as she drank milk and he realized that she didn't really talk in the mornings which was just fine with him because he didn't like to talk in the mornings, either. And then he had driven them to work on his bike and it was kind of weird how quickly they had fallen into some sort of routine with each other.

So why the hell was she smiling like that?

After work, they were the last to leave as usual and once he was finished cleaning his station, he headed into the office where she was filing some last papers away. He couldn't help but watch her. She wore these black flat shoes and a white dress with blue flowers and her black cardigan sweater was hanging on the back of her chair. Her hair had been worn up in a ponytail that morning and maybe she had been bored for a few minutes earlier because now, there was a braid going through it.

She turned to look at him as she slipped her sweater on and this time, the smile she gave was a Beth smile and it made him want to smile in return; relieved to see it because if Beth didn't smile, it was as if the sun decided not to hang itself in the sky that day. And he wanted to shake his head at himself because he hated himself a little for thinking something like that.

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded, slinging her bag over her head and across her chest. She followed him outside and then turned to lock the door.

He slid onto his bike and Beth instantly slid behind him, her arms around his waist. He wondered how he had ever ridden this bike before her because in all honesty, he had never thought of sharing a ride on his bike before but now, with Beth, it felt weird when he didn't feel her behind him, holding on. If Beth wasn't with him, he honestly considered taking his truck.

He scowled to himself as he headed towards Merle's house because he had no idea where thoughts like these were coming from all of a sudden. All he did know was that he didn't like them that much. Beth Greene was turning everything inside of him upside down and he had to figure out how to get a hold of himself again.

When they got to the house and Merle opened the door to them, Annie was there and hugged them both as if she hadn't seen them in years and Merle asked if she wanted a beer.

Beth smiled and shook her head. "No, thank you. I don't drink," she said.

And Merle gave her a grin and a wink. "Should have guessed that," he replied.

Merle went to get beers for himself and Daryl and Daryl sat down on the couch, listening as Annie gave Beth a tour of the small house and he could hear Beth asking questions and complimenting Annie on the curtains or the color of carpet and how she had always wanted a little house like this for herself.

"She's a sweet one," Merle commented, overhearing the two women as well, before taking a sip from his beer can. "Can't believe you asked her to move in already. Didn' think you've been together for that long."

"She just needed a place to crash. We're not together," Daryl shook his head before he could stop himself and he wasn't sure why he said that. And he sure as hell wasn't sure why he kept talking past that. "We're nothin'. Just hangin' out."

Merle looked at him as if he didn't believe him for a second. "Huh-uh," he smirked.

Daryl couldn't help but frown. "We're nothin', Merle," he said and he wasn't entirely too sure why he was insisting that. They had kissed. He asked her out on a date. He had gone over to meet her pops. Hell, he asked her to come and stay with him. That wasn't nothing and he knew it. He just didn't know what the hell it was and that didn't sit easy with him.

Beth and Annie came into the living room just a second later and Daryl's eyes whipped around to look at Beth. For some reason, he felt a panic that she had overheard what he had said to Merle about them being nothing but she wasn't looking at him and that was the only answer he needed. She had definitely heard.

And Daryl couldn't ignore the sudden knotting in his stomach. Shit.

"You have a Baldwin," Beth said with a small smile in her tone and Daryl watched as Beth went to the worn wooden upright piano standing in the corner.

"It was my grandma's. I used to know how to play when I was little but whatever I knew, I forgot a long time ago," Annie went to stand next to her. "I know it hasn't been tuned in years and it's just collecting dust sitting here but my grandma loved it and I can't just get rid of it."

Daryl watched Beth look down at the keys for a moment and then looked to Annie.

"May I?" She asked with that hesitant smile she had given him in the office earlier.

"Please!" Annie eagerly nodded and pulled the bench out for Beth to sit on.

Daryl couldn't help but lean forward. He didn't know Beth played the piano. Hell, he figured there was a lot about her he didn't know. From the lunch breaks before they talked to one another and he would sit outside in the back of the garage, he could hear her singing so he knew she liked music. He just didn't know she played anything and when he heard her begin to play a song he didn't know, her fingers lightly flying over the piano keys, it didn't really surprise him that she could play.

There didn't seem to be too many things that Beth Greene couldn't do.

And all Daryl could seem to do was blow hot and cold and be an asshole.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I know it seems like Beth's feelings and thoughts are all over the board in this story but that is her character in this particular world. She is shy and emotional and overcoming a grave illness and she's learning how to act around a man like Daryl. **

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**Chapter Seventeen.**

Her doctors in the clinic had explained it to her like this.

Because she felt as if she had absolutely no control over anything in her life, she had to gain control through her eating. She was the one in control of what she did – and did not – put in her mouth. And as everything around her began falling apart, she worked hard to convince herself that it wasn't and the way she did that was through cleaning. Her eating disorder had done so many things to her but it had also turned her into a somewhat anal clean freak. She dusted and vacuumed her room every other day. When she ate, she made sure there were no crumbs anywhere except on the plate. She sometimes made a bed two or three times if she couldn't get all of the creases out of the comforter on the first try. All of her clothes hung in the same direction and all of her shoes on the closet floor were paired off in perfect rows.

The first night in Daryl's trailer, she tried not to touch anything. It wasn't her place to touch anything and Daryl wasn't really a messy person anyway. But the more she tried to sit on her hands, the more her body shook as if she was a junkie in need of getting their fix and finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

Daryl had said nothing; that there was nothing between them and she had been standing in the hallway with Annie when he had said that. And as soon as the word hit her ears, Beth knew that she had never hated a single word in the entire English language more than that.

_We're nothing_.

Kissing her and asking her out on a date and meeting her daddy and giving her little presents and asking her to stay with him for a couple of days… it was nothing.

Tears immediately began burning her eyes and she could feel Annie looking at her but Beth didn't dare look at her, not wanting to see Daryl's sister-in-law looking at her with pity. It was apparent that other women liked Daryl. Karen had called the garage more than once, asking for him, and there was that woman in the roller derby and Beth was sure there were others.

And thinking of that, Beth told herself that of course there was nothing between her and Daryl. Why would he want there to be? He obviously had his pick and why on earth would he pick her with the baggage of an eating disorder and a scar on her wrist that he didn't even know about? She was too loaded down with too much; too fragile and in his eyes, not worth the effort.

Thankfully, she didn't have to talk to him at dinner. They sat beside one another at the small kitchen table but she didn't even look his way and thankfully, Merle was the sort who could easily take over an entire room with his talk and neither she or Daryl were able to get a word in even if they wanted to.

At the end of the evening, she hugged Annie and thanked both her and Merle for having her over for dinner.

"You're always welcome here, angel," Merle told her with a wide smile and Beth did her best to smile in return though she knew that was an invitation she would probably never see through. This was Daryl's brother and she couldn't just come and see Daryl's family – especially when Merle was the one Daryl had told what he really thought about her.

Nothing.

What a stupid, horrible word.

The ride home lasted an eternity and her arms had been light around his waist, not wanting to hold onto him or rest her cheek on his back like she did on every other ride. The wind was cold against her face and she told herself that that was why her eyes were stinging with tears.

He pulled to a stop in front of the trailer and she immediately climbed off. She darted her eyes to anything but him and she could have sworn that she heard him say her name but she couldn't be sure because all she heard was a dull hum in her ears and her head began spinning.

She couldn't stay here. There was absolutely no way she could stay here and it was obvious that he didn't want her anywhere near him. She wanted to ask him – demand from him – why he had asked her to stay with him in the first place but right now, that was just way too many words to say and she knew she wouldn't be able to get them past her tongue that suddenly felt too big for her mouth.

She followed him into the small, slightly cool trailer and she immediately turned to head into the bedroom but before she could take more than two steps, Daryl reached out and took hold of her hand. And even though it was Daryl touching her – and his touch always made her feel a thousand degrees warmer – all she could hear was _Nothing_ on repeat in her head and she flinched.

Daryl instantly dropped her hand as if it was a hot coal. "'m sorry," he mumbled then and she finally looked at him.

He was staring at her and she took a step back from him, crossing her arms over herself. She wasn't afraid of him but rather, she was terrified of what he might say and she didn't know exactly what he was apologizing for but she just knew she didn't want to hear him say anything else.

She closed the door to the bedroom and stood there for a moment, trying to breathe. She looked around the room and the slightly disorderly state of it and she felt her skin start to itch as if a thousand bugs were crawling all over her.

She started there. She took all of the clothes he had dumped onto the floor of the closet and began folding them. She would have much rather preferred to wash them first but she couldn't take loads of his clothes out of here without him noticing. So she folded them – separating them all into piles – and she then went to his dresser, opening drawers and figuring out where he put everything. But seeing the state of the drawers, she had to fold everything in there, too. And then, she told herself she had no right to but she found all of his flannel shirts – she couldn't believe how many he had – and she hung those all up in the closet and put away his tee-shirts and jeans in the drawers. The only drawer she left alone was the top drawer with his socks and boxers, too embarrassed to touch those and knowing that Daryl wouldn't appreciate that at all if she arranged that, too.

And once that was all done, it was past nine o'clock. She didn't hear anything on the other side of the door and she wondered if he was sleeping. She picked up her gym bag and slung it onto her shoulder. She was wearing the small compass he had given her around her neck – she hardly ever took it off – and though it was dark outside and walking through the woods wasn't the wisest thing to do, she had to get out of there. She couldn't stay here with him now that she knew. The farm was west so she just had to keep walking west and she would walk into it eventually. Daryl's trailer wasn't that far.

Beth went to the door and slowly pulled it open. She peeked out and saw him sitting on the couch, leaning forward, his head bowed, his arms resting on his knees but his hearing was better than most and the instant that door was open, he lifted his head and saw her and practically leapt to his feet.

She took a deep breath and stepped out and his eyes instantly went to the bag on her shoulder. He stared at it for a moment and then moved his eyes back to her.

"Don't go," he said and he spoke softly and yet, everything around them was so quiet, his words sounded as loud and sudden as two shotgun blasts.

She shook her head. "There's no reason for me to stay here," she said and her fingers curled around the strap of the bag so tightly, she felt her knuckles begin to ache. "I'm not going to stay where I'm not wanted," she told him and she was so happy with herself for being able to get that out.

Daryl took a step towards her and she forced herself to stand still and not take a step back. Daryl wouldn't hurt her and she didn't think for a moment that he would. Not hurt her physically anyway.

"I want you here, Beth," he then said, his voice lower, almost rougher sounding, and Beth hated the tingle that shot down her spine.

He took another step towards her and his eyes never left her and Beth found herself looking into his eyes and not looking away from him no matter how loudly she yelled at herself to do just that.

"'m sorry about earlier," he said.

"Sorry for what you said or sorry that I overhead?" She asked and she finally was able to move her eyes away from him. She looked down to his chest in front of her, staring holes into the Dale's Garage tee-shirt he wore, and she could feel his eyes still settled on her head.

She didn't even know why they were having this conversation. She didn't want to know because no matter what his answer was, she didn't want to hear it. She felt such a crushing disappointment and sadness towards him, it was as if someone was pressing piles of stones right down on her chest, slowly crushing her to death.

All of her thoughts came rushing back to him that she had had when she thought he wasn't showing up to the farm for dinner and she now knew that her thoughts had been right. She was nothing. Not to him. Not to too many people. Nothing more than a burden to everyone she knew and she felt so stupid and pathetic for thinking that Daryl had actually wanted _her._ Her of all people.

And those stupid searing tears began flooding her eyes again.

It was her fault, she knew. She had just been so desperate for something good to happen to her – to finally have something good in her life – and she had looked for it anywhere. Even in something that wasn't there and she pretended that it had been.

"'m really sorry for what I said earlier," Daryl finally spoke after a long moment. "I didn' mean it. I don't know…" he suddenly cut himself off as if he realized that he was talking too much and Beth slowly lifted her eyes despite knowing that they were red and wet and she had already promised herself that she would never cry in front of him.

She saw him visibly swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing down and then up again.

"I've never done somethin' like this 'fore, Beth," he said, his voice low and quiet again. "And I don't know how to act 'round you."

"Not like a jackass would be a good start," she blurted out before she could stop herself and she almost gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth.

She felt her eyes widen that she had just said that but Daryl stared at her and she swore that she saw him looking something close to amused.

"I don't got a lot of experience with women," he then admitted to her.

"You?" She asked and she knew the disbelief was evident in her tone because how was that even possible? Daryl Dixon was the most handsome man she had ever seen and other women obviously thought the same thing and there had to have been loads of them in his life before her and this moment.

He shrugged. "Don't really like people," he explained and she thought that over for a moment, her eyes drifting to his chest again, realizing that that seeming simple statement was quite true.

For the longest time, working in the garage, she had been so convinced that he hated her but he seemed to hate everyone – always scowling or frowning or muttering about how big of an idiot this person or that person was.

"But, Beth…" he said her name and her eyes lifted to his again. "I like you." He said those three words in a voice barely above a whisper, all mumbled and hard to separate into different syllables, but Beth heard him as if he had shouted it from the rooftop and the voice carried, echoing throughout the trees and the night.

She stared at him and didn't say anything because she had no idea what to say. Her heart was thudding in her chest so loud, she swore that he could probably hear it in the otherwise quiet trailer. And the air around them didn't feel so cool anymore. In fact, Beth felt sweat droplets begin to form along the base of her spine as if she was in an inferno and she wondered if she had any similar effect on him.

"I like you and I wan' you to stay here with me," Daryl said.

"Alright," Beth heard herself say before she could stop and even really think about it. She nodded her head slowly. "I want to stay."

They stared at one another and she wondered if he would kiss her. She hoped he would; wanted him to. She felt like they hadn't kissed in so long and she wanted him to initiate it this time. She needed to know that he wanted to kiss her.

But minutes counted by and he didn't make a move and she felt something inside of her get smaller and smaller with each tick of the imaginary clock.

"I cleaned your room," she blurted out, subsequently killing whatever thick mood had been hanging over their heads.

He looked at her for a moment as if he didn't understand. "What?" He asked the question on an escaped breath past his lips; as if he wanted to let out a laugh but was able to catch himself in time.

"I wasn't… I'm not able to help myself. I'm…" she had no idea how to explain this to him but Daryl was looking at her and there was no judgment in his eyes. And he had hurt her, yes, but he had apologized and she looked at him and couldn't help but feel like she could trust him.

He liked her. She just had to keep telling herself that because Daryl wasn't going to just say something he didn't mean and if he said he liked her, he must. She couldn't doubt that. She refused to let herself doubt that because if she did, she would never be able to trust anything about him and she so desperately wanted to trust him.

She made herself take a deep breath. "I like things neat. I don't really feel in control of a lot of things in my life except my eating and how I can keep things around me. I like things having their place."

"Alrigh'…" he said slowly, almost hesitantly, and he looked at her with an expression that seemed like a mixture of confusion and curiosity. She felt her cheeks blush as he reached out and slowly too the bag from her shoulder. "Mind showin' me?" He asked, tilting his chin towards the bedroom behind her.

"I know I shouldn't have touched your things but I just…" she trailed off because there really was no explanation as to why she had cleaned his room other that she was sick because she was – and she supposed she was in more than one way.

She stepped into the room and stood in the corner but the back window and the closet, watching with a nervous knot in her stomach and her fingers fidgeting as he set her bag down and looked around. He looked and saw all of his flannels hanging in the closet and his extra pair of boots on the floor beneath them. He turned slowly to his dresser and began pulling open drawers, seeing his tee-shirts and his jeans and he was staring at them all as if he had never seen any of them folded before.

"I didn't touch the top drawer," she blurted out and she almost winced. She really had to stop blurting things out like that.

Daryl slowly turned and looked at her and his face was completely unreadable to her. She opened her mouth to say something but she had absolutely no idea what to say so her lips stayed parted with no sound being made between them. She didn't know what to think; what _he_ thought.

She watched as he approached her slowly and she had no idea what he was thinking or what he was going to do. His eyes locked with hers and suddenly, he was standing right in front of her and it felt as if her heart was beating right in the base of her throat. And she let out a small gasp as his hands lifted to her cheeks and then he pressed his lips to hers.

…

It was Sunday – the start of their weekend – but Beth woke up nonetheless just a little bit after six o'clock in the morning. She laid there for a few minutes, listening to the light songs of the birds chirping outside and her eyes adjusted to the soft greyness of the room as the dawn grew lighter with the sun creeping above the eastern horizon.

She would have to get up and start getting herself ready for church so she could meet daddy, Maggie and Shawn but she didn't want to move just yet. She didn't know if she would ever want to move. Everything in this moment – for the first time in such a long time; maybe for the first time ever – she was experiencing perfection.

Beth turned her head on the pillow and next to her in the bed, his head on the mattress since there was only one pillow on the bed now – the other out on the couch when he had taken it to sleep on the night before – Daryl slept deeply and peacefully and she watched him, too afraid to even move because if she did, that might wake him and this moment would be over.

She wanted this moment to last forever.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**This is kind of a filler chapter but it's important to show the slow changes in Beth and Daryl's relationship as they grow closer to one another. **

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**Chapter Eighteen.**

The first thing he saw when he woke up was blonde hair and even though his mind was still half asleep, he knew it was Beth. He shut his eyes again just for a quick second before cracking them open and leaving them open. Beth laid beside him, still on her side facing him, the same position she had fallen asleep in, and he saw that she was already awake, her eyes looking at him. She gave him a small smile and he returned it, wondering in the back of his mind why this all felt so damn natural.

He had kissed her the night before – more than once because he hadn't been able to stop himself from not doing it anymore. He had been wanting to kiss her since the garage bathroom but something inside of him had always told him that the time wasn't right. Just like taking her out on a date. He kept waiting for these moments – these perfect moments – and he saw her standing in his now clean bedroom, looking so damn nervous and she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen and he realized that he was sick and tired of waiting for all of these moments that seemed like they would never come.

She had gasped a little the first time he had kissed her but then almost immediately, she had sank against him, her hands lightly resting on his shoulders as his own hands dropped down from her cheeks to rest on her sharp hips. He couldn't help but think of how bony she was. Even through her clothes, he could still feel all of her sharp angles and he had seen her eat enough times to know that she did but he wondered just how much more weight she had to gain to where she wasn't quite a walking bag of bones anymore.

And then he felt so damn guilty for thinking that because Beth got that enough from others in her life and she didn't need him to have thoughts like that, too.

There was more to Beth than how much she weighed.

He shook all thoughts from his head as quickly as he could and concentrated on kissing her. Focused on her soft lips and her faintly sweet taste and the way her hands touched him, shy and hesitant but not pulling away or stopping herself. He didn't really know what he was doing but he didn't stop himself either. He wasn't just saying it when he said he didn't have a lot of experience with women. Daryl never lied – never really saw a reason to. He wasn't a virgin but if it came to a choice between being alone and having companionship, Daryl liked himself just fine.

But Beth was different in seemingly every way because now that he was kissing her, he wasn't really looking for himself to stop. Now that he had gotten her to stay, he really didn't want her to leave and he knew, if he thought about that, it would scare the shit out of him because _why_ exactly didn't he want her to leave? Whatever the reason, he knew he wasn't ready to face that yet.

They kissed one another over and over again and his arms tightened around her waist, her small body being pressed against his, and Beth let out a soft moan that he felt sparking every inch of his body as her arms slipped around his neck.

He wasn't entirely sure how it happened but he felt themselves being lowered down and then he could feel the softness of the bed. Beth stiffened ever so slightly beneath him and it was more than enough for his lips to pull off of hers. He looked down at her and her eyes fluttered open to look up at him. Her cheeks were pink and her lips were slightly swollen and he had never seen her eyes such a dark shade of blue.

He gave her a small twitch of his lips in what he hoped was reassuring before he slipped from her, lying himself down beside her, his heart racing and the pumping blood roaring in his ears. He knew she wasn't ready for this to go any further and to be honest, he wasn't ready either. He had made a silent promise to her pops that she was going to stay a good girl while she was staying here with him and Hershel Greene wasn't a man he was looking to piss off.

And he didn't want to cross that line with Beth yet. Yet. He didn't know if they would ever cross that line together; didn't know if she would ever want to or if he would ever feel brave enough to.

"This bed is really comfortable," she said, breaking the silence, and he felt himself smirk, turning his head and looking at her. She was lying on her side, facing him, still blushing but smiling faintly.

Daryl rolled himself onto his side, facing her. "Yeah. Came with the place. It was Dale's but the thing was just sittin' here, gettin' old and no one usin' it. Dale sold it to me for a good price."

"I love it here," she then admitted quietly. "Your own little space where no one bothers you. I lived on my own in Atlanta. I had a roommate, Rosita. We both were helping each other get on our feet and I loved the freedom that came with being on my own without having someone breathing down my neck."

Daryl looked at her for a moment. "You ever gonna talk to your sister 'bout that?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "I keep telling myself I will. One day. When I'm feeling brave." She tucked her hands between her cheek and the pillow. "Don't know if I'll ever feel brave though."

"You're brave already," he said and she smiled a little as if she didn't believe him but Daryl shook his head slightly. "You are. Everyone in this town knows…" he trailed off. Knew what? That she starved herself damn near to death? Yeah, that was what they all knew but he didn't know how to put that into words. "And you face 'em every single day. That takes a lot."

Beth's face darkened another shade of pink as if his words embarrassed her and her eyes left his for a moment before they flitted back again. "There are stories about you and your brother," she said quietly.

"Yeah…" he grunted because he knew there were still stories floating around though there hadn't been any new ones for years.

He and Merle had been a couple of hellions just like all of the Dixons before them and it seemed like every law enforcement officer in the county knew them. But then, Merle had gone off to prison and Daryl had landed in this small town and they both seemed to calm down and settle down and now, both were downright boring. Even Merle – which seemed to surprise people more than anything.

Daryl shrugged, looking at her. "Some people can change," he said and that was all he said and Beth didn't press him to say anything else.

Some people could do something with their lives but not everyone. Some people were fine being drunken assholes who beat their kids for fun. Some people liked living their life doing nothing except getting drunk and getting into fights and getting arrested. It was no way to live but to some, it was all they ever wanted to do.

He didn't know when he fell asleep. They laid there, side by side, talking about all sorts of things – things he couldn't even really remember now the next morning but he looked at an awake but still sleepy-looking Beth beside him and whatever the conversation had been, he knew it had been a good one; the kind of conversation he had never had with another person before.

"You're a blanket thief," he grunted in a morning-rough voice, rolling onto his back and scrubbing his hands over his face.

She laughed softly and he thought it was better than a bird's song outside. There he was – having those stupid, down-right cheesy thoughts about her again.

"You know I'm always cold," she reminded him. She was the first to sit up and he watched as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Forgot to turn on the heater last night," he mumbled, sitting up now, too.

"You give off plenty of heat," Beth said with a faint blush staining her cheeks. "I just needed something a little extra. I've never slept beside a man before," she then told him and despite her blush, she was still bravely looking at him.

He shook his head a little. "Ain't never slept beside a woman before."

Screwed, yeah, but as soon as it was done, he was gone and the few times he had done it, it had rarely been in an actual bed. Usually just up against some wall outside behind some bar. He had never had this with another woman – being so close to her and having her so close to him. Hell, he still stiffened a little every time Annie hugged him and she was family.

But with Beth, there was nothing like that. No flinching or tensing up – not even when she reached out like she did now and brushed a strand of hair off his face.

"You should come to church with me this morning," she said.

Daryl looked at her and couldn't help but smirk as if she had told some great joke. Him in church? He had never been to church in his life. Why the hell would he start going now?

And Beth seemed to sense his confusion at her comment because she smiled a little, almost close to laughter, and she got off the bed. He kept sitting and watched as she went into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind her.

The word rolled over in his head as if he had never heard it before. Church. He knew he didn't believe in anything that had to do with that place. When he was younger and still thought it would help, he had sent a few prayers out to whoever was listening to make his dad stop beating on him with the belt or his fists whenever he damn well pleased but the prayers always went unanswered and soon, he learned that no one would ever help him except himself. There was no God. There was nothing. And Daryl couldn't imagine himself sitting in a church, surrounded by people who thought there was.

Despite all of that, he supposed it was no surprise to him when less than two hours later, he found himself sitting beside Beth in one of the hard wooden pews in the small church with her father and brother. He didn't know where Maggie was and he didn't really care. He wore jeans and a one of his tee-shirts because it was warm outside that day and it was damn near an inferno inside of the church. Beth sat beside him in one of her pretty dresses and he kept watching her from the corner of his eye. She was listening with all of her attention focused on whatever the preacher man was saying up on the altar behind his podium and Daryl tuned in a couple of times but the man was boring with his sermons about heaven and just rewards and eternal damnation in a burning hellfire. Daryl found Beth to be far more interesting.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Carol asked him after the service, her hand holding the hand of her daughter, Sophia.

"I have no idea," Daryl admitted in a near-grumble and Carol laughed because Carol probably knew that Beth had asked him to come and Daryl already found it close to impossible to tell Beth Greene no. He wondered if anyone else had figured that out.

He turned his head when he heard Beth's laughter and she was talking to an older couple he didn't know but then her eyes moved and they locked with his. She said something to the couple – probably politely excusing herself – and then she was heading his way, a small, bright smile on her face.

"Hi, Carol. Hi Sophia," she greeted them, looking to them, and Daryl couldn't help but look at her. Her dress was purple that day and her hair was braided and pulled over her shoulder. She wore one of her sweaters – grey today – because despite even the warm temperature that morning, she was still cold.

As Carol and Beth exchanged pleasantries, he heard Sophia giggle and he looked down at the girl, pretending to give her a fierce frown.

"What?" He asked.

She grinned up at him. "You're staring at Beth," she teased.

Daryl just kept frowning at her. "Shut up," he grumbled and Sophia just giggled again. Daryl let out another grunt and head nod when Carol said she and Sophia had to be going and wished them both a nice Sunday. He was still frowning when Beth slipped to stand in front of him.

She gave him a small smile, not at all intimidated by his near scowl. "I'm going to head over to the farm. We have breakfast every Sunday after church."

Daryl nodded.

"Do you still want me to stay at the trailer?" She asked.

His frown managed to deepen, wondering why she would ask that; wondering for a second if he had done something to think he wanted her gone. He knew they had said that she would stay for a few days but it had only been a couple so far and a couple of days did not equal a few – at least not to him.

He didn't actually know how long he wanted her to stay there with him but he knew he wasn't in any kind of hurry to get her out of there. But again, he reminded himself that he wasn't ready to tell himself the reason why yet.

"Course I do."

She smiled then a little wider. She nodded and then stepped a bit closer to him. "I would invite you to come with me but I know you go hunting on Sundays."

Daryl couldn't help but feel relieved – that she knew that and that she wasn't going to ask him so he wouldn't have to tell her that he didn't really want to go. He liked her dad and her brother just fine but still, being in that nice farmhouse with her family, it made him uncomfortable.

"Have a good time," he said, feeling lame for some reason, but Beth just smiled.

She began to take a step back and Daryl wasn't sure why he did it but he reached a hand out, grasping her hand gently, stopping her before she could walk away. She looked at him, curiosity clear across her face, and she gave him a small smile, obviously not understanding why he had stopped her. And for a second, he wasn't too sure why either but he stared at her and without a word, he leaned down and kissed her.

He didn't think about how they were standing in the yard of the church and there were still people milling all around and they could all see him kissing Beth Greene. He only thought about kissing Beth Greene and the slight pressure of her lips pressing back against his and she kissed him in return.

The kiss lasted for only a few seconds before he was pulling his head back again but he was feeling a little out of breath as he looked down at her. Beth was blushing and breathing a little heavier, too, and she gave him a small smile that despite its size, was practically blinding. And seeing her smile, it made him smile a little, too.

"Have a good time," she echoed his earlier words and he smirked and nodded his head, watching as she was finally able to turn and head towards her daddy and brother, Shawn leaning against the family car with a shit-eating grin on his face and he looked past Beth to have his eyes meet Daryl's and he seemed to be chuckling.

Daryl found himself not caring though. He didn't care that everyone around them had just seen him kiss her; had seen him being some damn sap around this girl; had seen him being dragged to a place he would never step foot into even if the world ended just because she was here and he clearly wanted to be around her.

They probably all wondered if Beth Greene had taken either his spine or his balls – or maybe even both – and Daryl watched her walk away and found himself wondering the same thing. What the hell was this girl doing to him? And why did he seem to just go along with it without having a problem with it?

He didn't even know when the hell it had happened because didn't he used to avoid this girl at all costs? And now, he was kissing her and wanting to be around her and he stood there, trying to pinpoint the moment it had changed between them.

But he couldn't. He couldn't think of when it had changed; only that it had. Beth turned once more towards him and gave him a small wave and a small smile before slipping into her family's car and Daryl stood there, knowing he looked like a damn idiot but he found himself smiling back and it was all because of her.

Beth Greene made Daryl Dixon happy and to him, he realized that it didn't matter when it happened or why. He just knew he wanted it to last for a while.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I am actually quite nervous about this chapter because this chapter wasn't planned at all. It wasn't in my outline but I sat down and started writing this and it came out of nowhere, turning out to be the longest chapter of the story so far. But now, I'm so excited to write the chapters after this one. **

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**Chapter Nineteen.**

The garage was completely slammed. She didn't know what happened but it seemed like all morning, people had been calling, trying to set up appointments because all of the cars in town must have had mechanical problems over the weekend. Beth was barely able to get up from her desk to go to the bathroom in between phone calls. She was quickly filling in the schedules of the four mechanics for the next few days and she hoped that she wasn't overwhelming them.

As soon as it turned noon, the others seemed to practically race from the garage for their lunch hour and Beth never thought she would be so happy to go to the bathroom. When she came out again, Daryl was sitting in the chair across from her desk and she smiled when she saw him, her heart fluttering like a butterfly's wings.

He smiled a little, too. "Hey," he greeted her in his grunt. "Startin' to rain a little. We'll have to eat in here."

Beth smiled and didn't say anything as she went to the break room to get her lunch from the refrigerator. She came back and instead of sitting behind her desk, she came to sit on the old loveseat pushed up against one of the walls of the office for customers to sit on as they waited. Without a word, Daryl took his lunch and came to sit down beside her.

"I need a break from my desk for a little bit," she told him but no sooner had the words left her mouth that the phone rang. She sighed and dutifully stood up, going to her desk to answer. "Good afternoon, Dale's Garage," she answered, polite as ever though she really just wanted to snap at the person because she was starving and tired and couldn't they give her just one hour without calling? "Let me check real quick. Hold please." She pressed the button on the phone and set the receiver down, going around the desk to her computer, bringing up the schedule.

"What do they need?" Daryl asked, the bologna sandwich in his hands but he hadn't taken a bite from it yet.

"She doesn't know. She just says her check engine light keeps coming on and she needs a mechanic to take a look at it," Beth said, trying to find a spot any of the guys had available. Beth picked up the phone again and pressed the button. "Hi, Andrea. What sort of car do you drive?" She paused and then looked to Daryl. "We actually do have a mechanic that can work on Hybrids but unfortunately, his schedule is full until at least Friday."

She heard Daryl sigh and watched as he stood up, crossing to her desk. He held out his hand and she handed him the phone, watching him, and she wasn't sure why but watching Daryl just then, her stomach clenched into an almost painful knot. She didn't know anything about cars – even after working here for a few months – so she didn't know what Daryl was saying about light indicators and cool injectors and engine grinds but all she knew was that she loved listening to his voice. His voice was like gravel, rough and low, and it had given her goosebumps more than one time. If Daryl was reading a recipe from a cookbook, Beth would pay admission to listen to him speak.

"We don't stock parts for a Hybrid so you'd have to bring it in sooner rather than later so I'd know what to order," Daryl was saying to Andrea over the phone and then he was standing behind Beth, leaning over her so he could look over the schedule, too, and she could feel his warm breath exhaling across her cheek.

She felt her eyes begin to flutter closed. He was so close to her and so warm and he had been this close to her before and yet, she always seemed to have the same reaction. She shivered as if she was cold but her entire body felt as if flames was licking across her skin as she stood too close to a fireplace. Beth couldn't help but lean herself back a little bit, as if seeking out his chest, and Daryl seemed to know what she was doing and maybe he wanted it, too, because he leaned in a little bit more forward, his chest brushing against the back of her head.

"Yeah," he rumbled. "Or you could take it to the dealer where you bought it."

Beth swore the breath caught in her throat and she stopped breathing when she felt his fingers, the tips lightly brushing along the side of her neck. She instantly leaned into his touch, shifting in her chair and tilting her head to the side so he could have more room to touch her if he wanted to. And he seemed to want to and his fingertips brushed up and found the curve of her jaw.

"I got an openin' tomorrow mornin' at ten. Just a half hour though. Don't know how good I could check it over in thirty minutes," he said.

His fingers never stopped. They traced the curve of her face and then they paused beneath her chin. His fingertips began rubbing her there and Beth felt her eyes slip closed at the light, teasing, almost tickling touch. She had to bite down on her lip because she swore she was going to let out a quiet moan at any minute and she didn't want Andrea to hear it from over the phone.

She couldn't quite believe that Daryl was touching her like this and she wondered if she was just imagining it. Maybe she was having an incredibly vivid daydream of his hands on her but she opened her eyes and saw him still standing behind her in her peripheral and his fingers slowly trailed down the column of her throat now.

And now, she couldn't help but arch her head back, pressing it against his chest and letting out the quietest of moans.

"I'll have Beth put you in," Daryl said and Beth hardly heard him hang up the phone.

Within a second, Beth spun around in her chair, seeming to catch him by surprise, and she stood up, pushing herself up on her toes and pressing her lips to his. Daryl didn't seem to need a moment to have his mind catch up because as soon as she was kissing him, he was kissing her back, his fingers tangling in her hair and she was suddenly quite glad she had worn it down that day. Her own hands cupped his cheeks and then moved down to the sides of his neck before she slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her body tighter against his and he held her within his strong arms, practically crushing her and squeezing the air from her but she could have cared less in that moment. As long as he kept kissing her and holding her and she nearly shivered again but definitely not because she was cold.

In the back of her mind, she knew that making out with Daryl Dixon in the middle of the garage office wasn't the most professional thing to be doing but right now, that was also the last thing on her mind.

She didn't want this to stop. She knew most people knew she and Daryl were living together in his trailer and she knew that most just assumed that they were sleeping together. The truth was though, they hardly touched one another when they were alone in his home except for the occasional brushing of their bodies as they passed one another or her light kiss to him each night before going to sleep. She had no idea what they were or what they were doing and she longed to just down with him and ask him countless questions until she didn't have a single one left but she knew that Daryl wasn't the sort to ever have that sort of conversation and she knew that she was happy with whatever it was that was happening between them.

She just couldn't help but wonder if she would be happier if she had a concrete definition of what they were.

They had to come up for air and for a few seconds, the only sounds were their heaving breaths and the raindrops lightly falling on the roof above their heads and the pavement outside.

Beth's eyes fluttered open and she wasn't surprised to see him already looking at her. She had no idea what to say or do and the most she seemed able to do was give him a small smile. One corner of his mouth twitched but he didn't make it bigger and he didn't say anything either.

Slowly, his arms moved from being wrapped around her back and they dropped down, his hands resting on her hips. Not that she had much hips to rest them on. She wondered what he thought about them. Did he like more… full women? Women with curves and softness instead of all sharp angles and bones? All of this time, she had honestly never thought of what a man thought of how she looked. She had other things on her mind than worrying if the opposite sex found her attractive.

But then, this whole thing with Daryl started and she couldn't help but imagine him seeing her naked eventually. She wondered if he was going to be disappointed or worse. Disgusted. She was still too skinny – too many bones still sticking from her skin – and even if she was gaining weight back, she knew she still had a long way to go and she didn't want to imagine Daryl cringing the first time he looked at her without clothes on.

"I gave Andrea that spot at ten o'clock," Daryl broke the silence.

Beth nodded and didn't speak because she still didn't trust her voice at the moment. She stared into his eyes and wished she could look into them for the rest of the day.

She couldn't help herself or stop herself from stretching her neck forward and brushing her lips across his in one more kiss; a kiss that had to satisfy her for the rest of the day and Daryl seemed to think the same thing because his arms slipped back around her waist, bounding around her as if he didn't want to let her go but eventually, he did because they heard cars approach as the other guys began returning to the garage for the rest of the work day and they still had their own lunches to eat. Beth couldn't help but sigh softly – a little with disappointment – when his arms dropped away and he took steps back to the couch.

She felt so cold without him near.

…

It was still raining hours later when they left the garage. They had ridden his motorcycle that morning and it was a steady, soft rain but it was steady enough to soak them thoroughly as Daryl raced them – yet still driving carefully – home.

Beth was laughing as she hurried inside with Daryl right behind her and she brushed some wet hair stuck to her cheeks back from her face. She turned to look at him and Daryl stood there, staring at her, his eyes unblinking. She felt her stomach clench and she shivered – a mixture this time of cold and steadily growing hotter.

"What?" She asked, sounding breathless from both laughing and from the darkness she could see in his eyes as he kept them on her.

He didn't say anything and she realized she really wasn't expecting him to but then, he shook his head and rubbed a hand over his head, glancing away.

"Don't know what the hell I'm doin' when I'm 'round you," he said.

"You don't have to know," she was quick to say. "Daryl, everything you're doing…" she trailed off then and his eyes moved back to her. "It's perfect," she whispered.

He stared at her and she felt nervous and scared and excited all at the same time and it was a jumbled mess in her mind. She really needed Daryl to do something because she had absolutely no idea what the next move should be. And she had meant what she said. The ways this man was making her feel, there was no way feeling so wonderful every day could be something wrong.

She shivered then, not able to help herself, the water soaking her skin and clothes and the trailer was cool from being unoccupied all day and the temperature dropping outside.

"Here," Daryl noticed and he reached out, taking her hand. She followed him into the bedroom and then he left for just a second, going into the bathroom and then coming back with a towel in his hands.

She stood there as he began to gently massaging the towel over her head, his fingers lightly massaging her scalp. Beth's eyes slipped closed and she leaned in closer to him and she wasn't looking but she could feel his face closer to hers now, his breath warm and steady on her face and she felt his nose brush against hers.

Keeping her eyes closed, she lifted her hands and they found the way to the back of his neck. She gently pulled him forward as she pushed her lips to meet him halfway and the instant they kissed, she nearly sank against him, sagging as if everything inside of her just gave away and deflated in that moment.

Daryl's hands fell away from her head, the towel falling to the floor, and his arms circled around her waist, hauling her body against his. She moaned softly, her arms sliding around his shoulders.

"I promised your pops," he muttered, hardly lifting his lips from hers as he did.

"Promised him what?" She whispered.

"Promised him I'd keep you a good girl."

And Beth almost felt herself whimpering at that because her body was crushed to his and she could feel him growing harder in his jeans, pressed against her.

She didn't want to be good if it meant she couldn't have Daryl like this. Her whole life, she had been Hershel Greene's good daughter. She obviously had her problems but for the most part, she did anything her daddy told her to. Always quiet and polite and the picture-perfect daughter. And she was fine with that. She really was. There was nothing wrong with being a good girl. It's who she was and it had taken her some time but she was beginning to like who she was again.

"Just because I'm a good girl doesn't mean I don't want to feel good," she heard herself whisper in a husky voice she didn't even recognize as her own.

Her eyes opened and she looked at Daryl and Daryl was staring right back at her. She swore that neither of them were breathing as one of Daryl's hands slowly slid down from her waist.

"You gotta tell me to stop, Beth," he said and his voice somehow sounded lower and rougher than usual and just hearing it made her want to moan.

She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and her eyes focused on his. She shook her head slightly. "I won't," she whispered to him.

She didn't know what he was going to do and it seemed like Daryl wasn't too sure either. But then, his hand began moving downwards again and she had no idea what to expect, having never had a man touch her like this. She kept her eyes bravely locked with his and she hoped that whatever he saw her looking at him with, it only showed him that she wanted this to keep going.

"I can't do this," he shook his head as his fingertips touched her bare thigh.

She tightened her arms around his shoulders. "You can," she said, still whispering. "I want you to, Daryl."

She felt his fingers twitch and then he slowly crept them upwards again, slipping them beneath the hem of her dress. Her heart began beating again, hard drumbeats in her chest that nearly felt as if they were bruising the bone and she felt goosebumps break across all over her skin but she definitely wasn't cold this time.

Without a word, without taking his eyes from hers, he began gently moving her backwards and she felt the bed hit the back of her knees. She sat down slowly, her stomach fluttering madly, and he kneeled down on the floor in front of her. His eyes still weren't moving from hers and she wet her lips again with her tongue. His fingers were moving further up her thigh, slipping to the inside of it, and she felt herself spreading her thighs a little wider even though he told her to do no such thing. She was going with instincts and between the pull in her stomach and the dull throb growing now between her thighs, she felt like she knew what to do.

The first time he touched her through her underwear, she couldn't help but gasp. She knew it was coming and yet, it still completely took her by surprise and Daryl's hand immediately froze. He didn't move it away but he didn't make any more movements and now that he had touched her, she knew she wanted him to again.

"Daryl," she whispered his name and shifted her hips a little, looking at him as she spread her thighs a little wider.

Daryl stared at her for a moment, his eyes intently upon her face, and he then touched her again, his index finger slowly tracing her through the growing damp fabric. She bit down on her bottom lip as she watched him watching her with unwavering concentration on his face. It was the look he had when he worked on a car. All of his attention and focus was on the task at hand and he wasn't going to make a mistake. Beth had watched him for so long, daydreaming about his hands and his arms, and now, his hands were on her, one resting on the outside of her thigh in a light grip while the other was between them, touching her and rubbing her and she heard herself moan softly, feeling herself grow hotter and wet.

His fingers paused and she almost let out a whimper of protest. "Beth," he whispered her name then and she hadn't realized her eyes had fallen shut until she slowly pulled the lids back and saw him staring at her.

She shook her head as if she knew he was asking her if she wanted to stop and she slowly lowered herself back onto her elbows so she could still watch him. She didn't know where this sudden burst of bravery was coming from but she knew she liked it and hoped it lasted so Daryl couldn't doubt a single second of this happening.

She bit down harder on her bottom lip and she reminded herself to keep breathing as she felt his fingers move and then he was pushing her underwear to one side. The air of the room was so cold as it rushed against her heated, now exposed, flesh, she nearly gasped with shock. She stared at him as he stared at _her_; a part of her no one had ever seen before. She wondered what she looked like to him and she wondered why she wasn't feeling embarrassed. She was probably too hot about what was going on to think about being embarrassed.

Daryl inched a little closer on his knees and then his fingers were back, touching her bare folds and she let out a small whimper, her eyes sliding shut. His touch was light, somewhat hesitant, but she could feel herself tingling, the throbbing steady between her thighs as her heart raced in her chest.

She gasped loudly as Daryl then began to slowly inch one of his fingers inside where nothing had ever been before. He froze and lifted his head to look at her.

"Beth?" He asked softly and she knew that he must have figured out that she was a virgin. She didn't nod or shake to confirm or deny. All she did was reach down and wrap her fingers lightly around his wrist.

"Don't stop," she said to him quietly, staring into his eyes.

"This ain't right," he shook his own head.

"Please don't say that."

He stared at her and her eyes stayed on him. She had no idea what he was thinking and all she could imagine was him pulling his hand away, standing up and walking out of the room, leaving her there splayed on the bed with her thighs open and an ache she didn't know how to get rid of.

Daryl didn't move away though. He exhaled a deep breath and his eyes lowered back to between her thighs. And when she felt him beginning to move his finger again, she let go of his wrist. It was tight – _she_ was tight – and she shifted her hips, a little uncomfortable at such a foreign intrusion but she didn't want him to stop and he didn't. He didn't until his index finger was all the way inside and she exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

She laid there, still keeping herself on her elbows and her head tilted back, and she took a moment for her brain to catch up on what was happening. She had her thighs spread and Daryl Dixon had his finger inside of her. Daryl Dixon's finger was _inside_ of her. And when he slowly began to pull it back, she heard herself moan softly.

He started to do it again and again, over and over. Pushing it in and then pulling it out. Slow – almost painfully slow – but she was getting used to it and she supposed he was, too. She wanted to ask him how she felt but her throat was too thick and dry and she couldn't do anything right now except breathe heavily and moan softly.

She heard herself whispering his name again and again as if she was saying a prayer and she cried out when she felt him add another finger – his middle, this time, to join his index. She was feeling so hot and so wet and she could still hardly believe that this was happening. Daryl was moving a little faster, it feeling like he was rubbing every inch of the inside of her and when the tingles started to spark across every inch of her body, she knew what was happening even if she had never quite felt it happen to her before.

And then his thumb swept across that sensitive bud at the top of her folds and she cried out, not able to help herself, Her head fell back and she moaned out as he did it again and again and then those sparks turned into explosions and she felt tremors breaking out and spreading to the very tips of her fingers and the very tips of her toes. She heard herself moaning out loudly, her back arching sharply and she gasped his name over and over again.

She felt his fingers pull out from her for the last time and it took her a minute or two for her breath to return. And when it did, she slowly sat herself up, seeing Daryl still kneeling there beside the bed. He was staring at her and again, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. She wondered if she would ever be able to read him.

She lifted her hands to his face, her thumbs swiping across his cheekbones and he closed his eyes for a moment, nearly rubbing himself against her touch. She didn't say anything because she had absolutely no idea what to say when _that_ was done – thanks for the orgasm just sounded so tacky – so instead, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead in a kiss, him sinking a little against her.

And he seemed to sigh – almost sounding a mixture of content and relief – before his hands slid up her thighs and curled around her hips and he held on.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading gand please review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you so much of your continued support of this story. I have veered away from my original outline a little bit and I think I need to get back to it starting next chapter. **

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**Chapter Twenty. **

He had done drugs before. It wasn't as if he was proud of it but he was a Dixon and Merle's little brother and _of course_ he had done drugs before. Mushrooms and prescription pills and pot. Nothing too heavy. He stayed the hell away from most of the other stuff, especially meth – seeing firsthand what it did to too many people around him, including Merle. He liked his pills and his booze and it always gave him a swirling buzz that lasted for hours.

He hadn't done anything like that in years though. He still had beer, yes, but he didn't drink like he used to and he sure as hell didn't pop anything into his mouth anymore like he used to. He didn't really see a reason to and he never felt that desire to. That was when he was young and stupid and thought those were things he thought he had to do for some reason.

And then Beth Greene came into his life and he tried to stay the hell away from her because he knew. He could tell with one look at her. She was more dangerous than anything he had swallowed into his body. He looked at Beth Greene and knew that that girl could fucking kill him if she wanted to. When he finally talked to her and they started spending all of this time together, he knew, without a doubt, that this girl was going to be the death of him. She more addicting than any pill he had ever come in contact with and the more time he spent around her, he just wanted more.

He always wanted to be touching her or kissing her or just being near enough to her to smell that sweet buttercream scent of hers. In just a few weeks, he had touched Beth Greene more than he had ever touched another person in his life and his fingertips just seemed to crave only more. He was the junkie and she was the fix.

When he woke up with her in the bed, her head was near his shoulder. Not resting on it but close and he laid there and looked at her, listening to her soft breathing and looking at the way the rising sun filtered in through the window behind them to cast over her and make her blonde hair look like it was shimmering. Who was this girl and why the hell was she lying in bed with him? She was too beautiful to be anywhere near him and he didn't get why she didn't understand that; didn't get why she seemed to crave him as much as he craved her.

Daryl wasn't the sort to linger in bed but this morning, he laid beside Beth and watched her sleep and he hated that they both had to get up and go to work because this morning, he just wanted to lie in bed with her and not leave for any reason.

But then – too soon after – her eyes began fluttering and then they opened. She looked at him tiredly and murmured a good morning to him and he watched as she stretched her arms before she slowly sat up. And after that, he sat up, too. They took turns in the shower and ate their bowls of cereal and drank their glasses of milk because neither were the biggest fans of coffee. And when she went into the bedroom to get dressed and came out again in one of her dresses and cardigan sweaters, she gave him a small smile and he smiled a little in return.

He had decided that he really loved her always wearing dresses before he shook that thought from his head because it made him sound like some dirty old man.

It was another insanely busy day at the garage – all of the appointments Beth had made for the four mechanics for the rest of the week beginning today and there was hardly any joking around or talking as there usually was as Daryl, Axel, Martinez and Zach all kept their heads down, seeing one customer after another.

Occasionally, he would look to the office to see Beth on the phone or totaling a customer's invoice, smiling as she took their form of payment. She was always smiling and he couldn't help but be a little amazed at that because she had gone through so much shit – was still going through it – and she still found a reason to smile and be happy with the world around her. The scars on his back and the scars buried inside of him, Daryl rarely saw a reason to ever like anything in this world.

But then, Beth Greene came. He wondered if that was how it was going to be for him from now on. Pre-Beth and post-Beth. Because post-Beth, maybe he was finding himself not hating everything like he used to.

As suspected, he wasn't able to look over the Hybrid in a half-hour as well as he normally would have and he told Andrea that she would be better off taking it to the dealership in Atlanta where she had gotten it from. He walked to the office with her and Beth smiled when she saw him, taking the paperwork he handed her.

"Don't charge her," Daryl told Beth. "Wasn' able to do anything."

"Thank you, Daryl, "Andrea smiled gratefully. "Is Dale in his office?"

"He is," Beth nodded. "Been cursing over his computer for most of the morning."

Andrea laughed at that and then saw herself to the back of the shop where Dale's office was. The two had an unlikely friendship but it was one that had lasted for many years now and despite the differences in almost every aspect of their life, their friendship was close and strong and seemed unbreakable. Most understood that Dale looked to Andrea in the same way he looked to Beth – aas the daughter he never had and Dale was Andrea's father figure.

Once it was just the two of them, Beth looked to Daryl and smiled. "Your eleven just called and they're going to be a few minutes late. They're stuck by a train."

He nodded and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his pack of cigarettes. "Better take advantage then," he said. He would ask her to come out back with him but he knew she wouldn't want to leave her desk. "I've been thinkin' 'bout somethin'," he then told her.

"And what's that?" She asked and he could see her cheeks stained a faint pink.

"Thinkin' it's time I take you out on that date," he said.

She laughed a little. "I guess," she shrugged. "You've already had your hand between my legs. I suppose you could buy me dinner now."

He let out a cough, shocked that she had just said something like that, and he looked at her. He saw the sparkling in her eyes but the deep blush sweeping across her face and he couldn't help but give a crooked smile.

"You can't say things like that to me while we're at work," he shook his head. "It'll make me wanna do all sorts of things to you."

She bit down on her bottom lip for a moment and then smiled at him softly. "Promise?" She asked and Daryl wondered why the office felt a thousand degrees warmer than it had just a few seconds earlier.

He tried to think of something to say but all he had in his head right now was the softness of Beth's skin and how wet and tight she had been the night before and how his own body felt like a tightly coiled spring, ready to burst apart. He almost felt like shaking. He needed his Beth Greene fix.

"Hey, Beth," Axel came into the office then, a customer behind him. "Here's the paperwork. Smoke break?" He then asked, looking to Daryl and the pack in his hands and Daryl nodded, casting one last glance to Beth but she was smiling and speaking with the customer, all of her attention off of him right now and Daryl couldn't help but feel relieved.

He had a ton of work to do and Beth Greene was too damn good at distracting him even if she didn't know that that was what she did to him. It was such a foreign concept to him – to have himself to be intertwined with someone else and he never thought of himself having a person like that in his life but as he smoked with Axel in the back lot behind the garage and listened as Axel was bitching about his wife and sister-in-law making a mess of the house the night before, Daryl wondered if he would have that, too. Not the bitching part but a woman to talk with the guys about.

He knew he had Beth. He wasn't going to wonder about that and he knew that the guys – except Zach – were curious about what he and Beth had going on between them but he didn't know if he would ever talk with them about her. Everything between him and Beth just felt too private – even the talks and the motorcycle rides to nowhere in particular. Daryl wouldn't feel right telling anyone anything about what he and Beth did together. Not even Merle or Annie or Rick.

He wasn't ashamed of it but for the first time in his life, he felt like he had something entirely his own. It belonged to him and he didn't have to share it with anyone else as he had to do with everything else in his life before Beth. He didn't want to open up and talk about it to anyone because this was his. Just his. And no one was going to be taking her away from him.

…

"Daryl," she whimpered softly even though everyone was gone and the garage was locked up for the night. Her hands tightened around his shoulders and his fingers moved a little faster inside of her, his hand buried between her thighs as his other hand rested on the small of her back, keeping her perched on the bathroom sink.

Neither of them had exactly been planning this. The other guys had left and then Dale had bid them goodnight and Daryl had finished cleaning his bay and had come into the office to wait as Beth finished cleaning her desk. It had been just like any other night. But then she had smiled at him and he had kissed her and now, they were locked in the small staff bathroom, her dress pushed up around waist and her underwear pushed down around her knees. He had absolutely no control around her and he couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or not.

"Daryl!" She cried out softly and he watched her head fall backwards as she stiffened in his arms.

She was so tight and wet now and she squeezed herself around his fingers as she came. She sat there for a moment, breathing heavily, and he couldn't help but lean into her and press a kiss to the side of her throat. It was only the second time he had done that for her but already, he knew it was just another thing he was addicted to. The voice in the back of his head telling him that he shouldn't be doing this with her was growing fainter and fainter until he could barely hear it and all he could do was tell himself that he hadn't broken his promise to Hershel.

Beth was still a good girl. The _best_ girl.

She hummed from the back of her throat and then brought her head forward, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and she buried his face in his neck. She kissed him there as he had kissed her and he slowly pulled his hand out from between her legs, his arms sliding around her waist. She was still a bit out of breath, her body still trembling slightly, and Daryl couldn't help but press himself against her.

It would be so easy. Her sitting on the edge of the sink with her legs spread and all he would have to do was unzip his jeans and push forward but there was no way in hell he was going to do that. Beth was a virgin and she was not the kind of girl who had her first time in some dirty garage bathroom.

She moaned softly when she felt him and she pulled her head back, looking into his face. "I want to," she said almost in a whisper as if she could read his mind.

Daryl just shook his head. "No," he said and it didn't matter how hard he was right now. He had never been a girl's first before and he couldn't really believe that Beth would want him as hers but no matter what she said, it wasn't going to be right now.

He expected her to protest but she didn't say anything and he reluctantly stepped back, taking Beth's hand and letting her slide down from the sink to her feet again. And like some perverted version of _Cinderella_, Daryl guided her underwear from her knees back up her thighs and she laughed a little, adjusting it and smoothing the skirt of her dress as it fell down again.

"Wanna get a burger?" He asked.

"Alright," she smiled up at him, her cheeks still rosy and her eyes shining and she looked so damn beautiful, he couldn't help but lean in and kiss her.

They got on his bike and he drove them to the diner in town, a little surprised when Beth reached over and slipped her hand into his as they crossed the parking lot but he didn't pull his away. Her hand was cold – as she always was – and her skin felt smooth and her hand was probably one of the nicest things he had ever touched. He even pulled the door open for her and let her go through first and she smiled up at him as if he had just given her diamonds.

"Daddy," Beth beamed and Daryl saw Hershel, Shawn and Maggie sitting at a table in the middle of the diner. She didn't let go of Daryl's hand and instead, she seemed to pull him over to the table where her family sat. "Hi!" She then greeted as if she hadn't seen any of them in days. She finally let go of his hand but only so she could hug Hershel and Shawn and she and Maggie kissed one another on the cheek.

"Sit," Hershel smiled when he saw the two of them and Daryl found himself lowering himself into a chair between Shawn and Beth.

He did his best to look at Hershel across from him and not look so damn obvious about anything but he swore that the man would be able to take one look at him and know what he had just been doing to Beth in the bathroom.

As the waitress came to take their orders, Beth looked to Daryl and gave him a soft smile, leaning in closer to him.

"I hope you don't mind eating with them," she said in a quiet voice.

He shook his head. "Course I don't. Not much of a first date though," he grunted.

"Don't worry. We have plenty of time for that," she said and then kissed his cheek.

The waitress came to Beth and she ordered a burger with no cheese or anything else on it and French fries with no salt and to drink, she ordered a water as she always drank. Beth was sitting between Daryl and Maggie but Daryl was able to see the way that Maggie stiffened slightly at Beth's order and he felt a little ashamed when he found that a part of himself actually agreed with Maggie's reaction.

He knew Beth ate. He had seen her eat so many times by now and apparently, she was so much better now than she had been but still, there were these moments where Daryl watched her and wondered if she was eating enough. He never said anything about it – not wanting to anger or upset her – and she had her family, especially her sister, to stifle her when it came to her eating habits. He didn't want to add to it and he didn't think he had any right or say when it came to things like that.

But the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. "That all you gettin'?" He asked and his eyes instantly flew to her because he couldn't believe that he had just asked that and judging by the slightly wide of her eyes, she couldn't believe that he had just asked that either.

He could feel the eyes of her family watching them but Daryl kept staring at Beth and she kept staring at him. He opened his mouth to apologize to her but Beth sighing softly cut him off.

"Yes," was all she said before she turned her head away and Daryl kept staring at her, still trying to bring himself to apologize.

He had no idea why he couldn't because she looked so damn disappointed and hurt by him asking her that and just minutes ago, she had been smiling at him and so obviously happy.

He didn't even remember what he had ordered and when their food came, he looked down and saw that he had the cheeseburger with the works on it. He didn't feel hungry at all anymore though. Beth hadn't looked over to him once and he watched from the corner of his eye and held the burger between both hands, taking small bites but eventually, finishing the whole thing. Shawn dominated most of the conversation, talking about something that had happened at the farm and how he and Otis had tried to cover it up before Hershel found out but of course, Hershel had found out because he always did and Beth would smile occasionally at the story but Daryl noticed that these smiles didn't reach her eyes.

He didn't remember eating but he had eaten his entire burger when the waitress came to clear their plates and Hershel paid the bill despite Daryl reaching for his wallet and telling him that he could cover himself and Beth.

"You taking good care of her?" Hershel asked as they all stepped outside and Beth walked off with her brother and sister for a moment.

Daryl nodded once. "I'm tryin'," he said, watching after Beth.

"I never expected you to be her babysitter, Daryl, and I'm not asking you to be. Beth doesn't need one of those. I thought we agreed on that," Hershel continued.

Daryl looked back to the man. "We do," he said.

Hershel gave him a small smile. "Just apologize to her. My daughter's crazy about you and it's pretty obvious you feel the same about her. Apologize before this blows out of proportion between the both of you and it becomes something more than it should be."

Old instincts almost had Daryl immediately denying what Hershel had said but the thought was only momentary. And with that, Hershel carried himself away on his crutches to his children and Daryl watched as Beth hugged all of them goodbye before turning and coming back towards Daryl. He admitted that he was relieved when he saw her coming towards him. For a second there, he thought she would go back to the farm tonight.

"Daryl," she began to say, her fingers fidgeting in front of her.

"'m sorry, Beth," Daryl said quickly before she could say anything past his name. "'m really sorry," he said and she stared at him for a moment without saying anything.

It felt as if they were the longest few seconds of his life and he felt as if the burger he had just eaten was threatening to come back up.

"I just need you to trust me, Daryl," Beth said in her soft voice, looking into his eyes, and he nodded his head. "I know it doesn't look like it but I _am_ getting better-"

"I know you are," he couldn't help but interrupt. "I know you are and I don't know why I said that in there." He looked at her. "'m sorry," he said one more time.

Beth looked at him for yet another moment and then without a word, she stepped up to him, her hands sliding onto his cheeks and lifting herself on her toes, she gave him a light kiss. Daryl instantly responded, nearly sagging with relief as his hands lifted to her head, fingers buried in her hair, and he kissed her back.

She pulled her lips back from his just far enough to give him a soft smile and to look into his eyes. "Let's go home," she said.

Home. She had never called it that before but the instant the word fell from her mouth, he had never heard anything better or anything more true. Home. The trailer was his place but it was now hers, too. Home. _Their _home.

When the hell had that happened?

And when he smiled at the thought, at that realization, Beth smiled a little wider too as if she could read his mind and she kissed him again.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	21. Chapter 21

**The response to this story continues to blow me away. Thank you so, so much. Some dirty Beth/Daryl in the next chapter and I am worried that it seems like this story has been kind of stalling so next chapter, I promise things will pick up a bit. **

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…

**Chapter Twenty-One.**

"Rosita!" Beth couldn't help but exclaim as she saw the familiar Jetta pull into the garage lot and her closest friend step out. She hurried from the office and met her halfway across the parking lot, laughing as Rosita threw her arms around her.

They hugged one another tightly for a few minutes and Beth knew she had missed her but now that Rosita was there for a visit from Atlanta, Beth realized just how much. They had met one another in the same recovery clinic – Beth for her eating and Rosita for cutting – and there was something that just seemed to click between them when they first met. Their rooms were across the hall from one another and oftentimes, one could be found in the other. When they had both left the clinic, they had gotten an apartment together – the apartment Rosita still lived in with a new roommate though Rosita often called and told Beth how much better and easier she was to live with than her new one; some guy named Eugene who had walked into the bathroom while she was in the shower one too many times for it to be considered an accident anymore.

"How was the drive?" Beth asked once they broke apart.

"I got a stupid speeding ticket. As soon as I stepped over into this county. I didn't know it dropped down to fifty-five. That is such a ridiculous speed to have it at," Rosita pouted and they began walking back towards the garage. "And the Sherriff who gave me the ticket did not care for my cleavage on display."

Beth laughed at that. "The horror. An actual honorable man." They stepped into the office and Beth smiled a little. "Well, this is it. This is my desk and I answer the phones and set up the appointments for the guys and handle the customer invoices."

Rosita smiled a little as she looked around and then her eyes fell on the windows that overlooked the garage. "And your view is spectacular," she grinned and Beth laughed a little, her cheeks warming. "Which one's Daryl?" She asked.

Beth came to stand beside her at the window. "Very last bay. You can't really see-"

"Oh my God, Beth, look at those arms," Rosita said, nearly licking her lips, and Beth couldn't help but smile faintly to herself.

Daryl was wearing the Dale's garage tee-shirt but the particular one today didn't have the sleeves, having been ripped off by Daryl long before, and she could see the way his biceps flexed and twitched with every movement he made. She couldn't blame Rosita for practically drooling at the sight of them.

Her boyfriend did have the most incredible arms.

Boyfriend. She was assuming that that was what Daryl was. They still hadn't had that conversation with one another and Beth was beginning to wonder if they actually _had_ to have that conversation.

She was living with him full-time now and that hadn't been a conversation between them either. It had just sort of happened. He had asked her to stay with him a few days and then he never told her when she should go home and she brought over a few more of her clothes and they began sleeping in the bed together – just sleeping – and she began feeling more at home in the trailer than she did at the farmhouse.

She couldn't help but wonder if she and Daryl would ever have a conversation about anything or if things would keep moving forward without a discussion. She admitted that everything happening with Daryl did just feel completely natural so maybe there really was no point in talking about it.

"Beth, I take it this is her?" Dale asked with a smile, coming out of his office.

"Yes," Beth smiled. "Rosita, this is my boss, Dale. He's the owner. Dale, this is Rosita."

"Very nice to meet you, my dear," Dale smiled warmly as the two shook hands. "Beth has told me so much about you. And because of your arrival, we're closing a little early today," he said.

"Because of me?" Rosita both looked surprised and confused about that.

Dale chuckled. "Well, I was going to give Beth the afternoon off so she could spend more time with you but then I remembered that I can't run this place without Beth so if she's gone, we're just going to close for the rest of the day."

Rosita looked at Beth and Beth felt herself blushing. Dale was telling the truth. He honestly felt like he couldn't run his garage without her and Beth still was getting herself to try and believe that she was so important to Dale and the other guys. She wasn't used to being actually needed by anyone and she wondered if she would ever be used to others looking at her as if she mattered.

Rosita looked back to Dale. "Well, thank you for doing that."

Dale waved it off as if it was no big deal at all and Beth supposed that to Dale, it wasn't. He was probably going to take the afternoon as an opportunity to go fishing.

"Do you want to meet the guys?" Beth asked and smiled when Rosita eagerly nodded her head and she followed Beth out into the garage.

Since she had started whatever this was with Daryl, the guys no longer whistled at her even though she knew they had never meant anything by it in the first place. Axel and Martinez didn't anyway. They were both married though they seemed to complain about their wives often, Beth knew they loved them. They still flirted with her but Beth had been there long enough now to be used to it and know that it was just something they did. They were all merciless flirts and Beth no longer scurried away from them as if they scared the wits out of her.

"Rosita, this is Caesar Martinez and Axel Jenkins," Beth smiled as she introduced her friends to the first two mechanics.

As expected, Martinez gave her a grin and a wink and Axel asked her if she needed a place to stay because he would be more than happy to give her a bed for the night and Rosita just laughed and shook their hands and gave them her own winks. She had always seemed far more comfortable with men than Beth and had even brazenly flirted with the male orderlies at the clinic.

"This is Zach Baker," Beth said as they went to the next bay.

Zach looked up for just a moment before looking again down to the engine he was working on. "Hey," he said and said nothing else.

Zach hadn't really been speaking to her for the past few weeks – not since the other guys found out that she had started staying with Daryl. He seemed to understand now that nothing would ever happen between him and Beth and now that he knew that, he seemed to have absolutely no interest in even speaking to her.

"And this is Daryl Dixon," Beth said, coming to the last bay. "Daryl, this is my best friend, Rosita Espinosa."

Daryl wiped his oily hands on the red rag always in his back pocket. "Hey," he let out in his usual grunt and Rosita smiled widely at him, shaking his hand.

"It is so nice to meet you, Daryl. I've heard so much about you from Beth," she said.

Daryl looked to Beth. "Not sure there's that much to say 'bout me," he said.

Beth just gave him a soft smile. "Rosita and I are going to go get pizza for lunch. Do you want to join us?" She asked.

"Rick wanted to go get somethin' to eat today," Daryl said. "We could join you if you want," he then suggested with a shrug.

Beth burst into a smile at the thought. "We would love that. We'll meet you there?"

Daryl nodded and looked back to Rosita. "Guess I'll talk to you later."

Rosita just kept smiling at him. "Can't wait." And when they turned away and began heading back towards the office, Rosita snatched Beth's arm and pulled her in close. "Good God, Beth. That man," Rosita pretended to fan herself and Beth couldn't help but laugh softly. "That man undresses you every time he looks at you."

"He does not," Beth instantly argued, her cheeks exploding in red.

Rosita laughed. "Trust me. He is. He definitely wants you."

"He only wants me because he hasn't seen me naked yet," Beth said before she could stop herself and as soon as she said it, she saw Rosita's smile start to fall.

"Beth-" she began to say but Beth quickly shook her head, stopping her.

Beth really didn't want to talk about this. She hardly even wanted to think about it and even though they were growing closer and the desire to be more intimate with Daryl was growing stronger with each passing day, she still got herself dressed when she was sure he was nowhere near so he couldn't see her without clothes on.

She had hung a full-length mirror on the back of the bedroom door and she had looked at herself the other day in just her bra and underwear. She had gained weight and gained a bit more since leaving the clinic but standing there, looking at herself, she couldn't stand the thought of Daryl seeing her like this and seeing him cringe. Her breasts were nothing but bumps, most of her ribs were visible and her hips stuck out in severely beneath her skin. There was nothing sexy or womanly about her and Daryl would take one look at her and look away. She knew he would. There was no way he would still be attracted to her if she took her clothes off for him.

As planned, Dale closed the garage down at noon for the day and Rosita went to her Jetta as Beth waited for a moment for Daryl beside his bike. She smiled as he crossed the parking lot towards her and he smiled a little, too.

"You and Rick won't mind sharing your lunch with us?" Beth asked.

Daryl just shook his head. "I think we'll be just fine," he said. "Where you headed after eatin'?" He asked.

"I was going to take Rosita home. She wanted to see the trailer," she said. "If that's alright?" She asked.

He shrugged. "'s your trailer, too."

And he said it so casually, as if she should have known that already, Beth couldn't help but bounce up on her toes and throw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His hands were on her back, lingering there, and she closed her eyes, breathing in his scent for a moment. When she pulled back, she smiled at him and his lips twitched in a smile in return.

"You two are disgustingly cute," Rosita commented as Beth got into the car and Beth blushed and smiled down to her hands in her lap. "And you seem happy. Are you happy?" She asked.

Beth nodded and looked to her closest friend. She and Rosita were the same age but Beth always felt so behind in everything. There were still some days where Beth didn't feel like a young woman but rather still a little girl. Rosita embraced her femininity out of the womb, it seemed. Beth would listen to Rosita's stories about men and relationships and she would wonder if she would ever have that for herself. Even when it came to recovery, Rosita was released before her.

"I've never been this happy before," Beth confided in her and Rosita smiled at her as if relieved with her answer.

There was only one pizza place in the small town – Rhee's – and by the time Beth and Rosita got there, every table was taken with the lunch crowd. Beth's eyes scanned the crowd and she saw Rick already sitting at a booth along the middle of the room and he spots her at the same time, smiling at her. Beth took Rosita's hand and tugged her towards the table and Rosita gasped when she saw Rick sitting there.

"You gave me a ticket," she frowned, letting go of Beth's hand so she could cross her arms over her chest, her frown deep and fierce.

"You were going seventy in a fifty-five," Rick said, looking as if he wasn't at all surprised to see the particular speeder from this morning joining him for lunch.

Rosita slid into the booth next to him, pushing him towards the wall, making herself quite comfortable. "What kind of stupid county drops the speed limit by ten and doesn't put up a sign to tell the drivers?"

Rick raised an eyebrow. "I pulled you over next to a speed limit sign."

As Rosita and Rick kept going back and forth, Beth looked around, wondering what was taking Daryl and she slowly slid into the seat across from Rick. She liked Rick and she loved the friendship he shared with Daryl. They had grown up together and Daryl had been a part of the Grimes family throughout most of his life, helping him through things that he hadn't told Beth about yet but what she had been able to guess about on her own. The way he would sometimes flinch or his seemingly disdain towards all people or passing comments about his childhood. She didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to know but if he told her, she would listen.

Over the noise of the people, she heard the bell tinkle above the door as someone opened it and Beth turned her head, smiling as she saw Daryl enter. He spotted them immediately and within seconds, he had approached the booth and had slid into the seat beside Beth.

"Everything alright?" She asked because she had seen him leave the garage before she and Rosita had.

He nodded. "Yeah. Just went to go pick up somethin' for you that I've been lookin' at and I took it home real quick."

"For me?" She asked as if she didn't understand and Daryl just kept staring at her, his eyes intently focused on her. "What is it?" She asked.

He smirked at that and shook his head. "You'll find out when you get home."

"Can you give me a hint?" She asked, leaning into him, looping both of her arms through his one, pleading with him as if she was a little girl asking for a sweet.

And she knew they weren't generally affectionate like this with one another in front of others but there was something about today. Maybe it was the way he smirked or she was happy to have Rosita there with them or the way he had slid into the booth beside her as naturally as if they had been doing it a thousand times before.

What she had told Rosita was true. She had never been this happy.

"Just a little hint?"

Daryl just kept on smirking and shook his head again and looked to Rick and Rosita across from them. "We decide what kind of pizza we gettin'?" He asked.

And Beth couldn't help but grow more and more excited as they ate their pizza and Rosita asked Daryl all sorts of questions as if she was Beth's self-appointed bodyguard and even though Daryl gave one-word grunts as he usually did when faced with any type of conversation, Rosita seemed pleased enough with his answers. She gave Beth all sorts of these smiles from across the table throughout the meal that made Beth blush because even though she couldn't read Rosita's _exact_ thoughts, she had an inkling of what they were.

Beth couldn't help but her foot down on the gas pedal of Rosita's car as she drove them through the trees of the woods, down the faded dirt road that led to the trailer. She couldn't help it. She had absolutely no idea what to expect but knowing Daryl, she knew it was going to be so sweet and incredibly thoughtful. She looked back on when they were first courting one another and exchanging gifts. All of his to her had been so perfect and meaningful and he hadn't even know her then when they had begun doing it.

She parked the car and didn't even wait for Rosita before she hurried up the steps of the trailer. She knew she was acting silly and slightly ridiculous and she almost wanted to laugh at herself but she couldn't help herself. It was Christmas morning and she was a young girl all over again, hurrying down the stairs in the farmhouse, eager to see the Christmas tree and all of the presents for her beneath it.

And when she unlocked and opened the door, she stopped so suddenly, Rosita bumped into her from behind.

Beth's mouth fell open and her hand lifted to cover it. She could hardly believe it. Standing in the middle of the room, in front of the couch, was a keyboard. A black keyboard and a stand and where on earth had he gotten this from? Why had he gotten her a keyboard?

She walked towards it slowly as if worried that if she rushed to it, it would disappear. Her fingers reached out and they brushed down the white plastic keys. He had gotten her a keyboard. Daryl Dixon had gotten her a keyboard and had brought it here for her to have.

Rosita was standing near the door, her arms crossed over her chest and a slight smile across her face. Beth slowly sat down at the couch and the seat was a little too low but she didn't care as she rested her fingers over the keys. She didn't turn it on so there was no sound but that didn't stop her from playing the first few bars of the first song that popped into her head.

She played the keyboard and almost felt like crying, overwhelmed with a barrage of emotions slamming into her all at once. But in the center of it all, she knew one thing for absolute certain and with absolute clarity.

Daryl Dixon loved her. And she was in love with him.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	22. Chapter 22

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**Chapter Twenty-Two.**

It was damn strange – spending his free afternoon spying on his best friend's wife. He wasn't hiding behind trees or following her two cars behind. Instead, he walked right up to the front door and Lori answered, looking surprised but smiling and inviting him inside where he asked if he could hang out with Little Asskicker for a while. If Lori was suspicious with his sudden appearance, she didn't act like it or if she had plans to meet someone else, she didn't act anxious or ask him to leave.

And when Daryl finally did leave, he went to the Sheriff's station and met with Rick and told him that Lori wasn't up to anything. Rick nodded but didn't look completely convinced and Daryl wasn't too sure what to say. Rick was just convinced that Lori was cheating on him and Daryl wasn't going to argue. He just supported Rick as the man had supported him with things throughout most of his life. It didn't matter to Daryl if Rick was right or not. If this was what Rick needed him to do, he would do it.

Rosita was staying at the farmhouse with Beth's family for her visit and by the time Daryl got back to the trailer, her car was gone and he heard music coming from inside. He smiled to himself as he locked up his bike in the shed for the night. He had seen the keyboard at the pawn shop for a couple of weeks now – the pawn shop next door to the garage and he would slip away to look at it every now and then. He didn't know shit about keyboards or music instruments in general. All he knew was Beth could play the piano and was damn good at it and thinking about her playing the piano at his brother's house, Daryl knew he wanted her to play in theirs, too.

He climbed the steps and opened the door and stepped inside but the playing didn't stop. Beth was sitting perched on the edge of the couch, her back straight, and her fingers were curled over the keys, hitting each one flawlessly and with purpose, and he didn't know if the song she was playing had any words because she wasn't singing but she hummed along and he stood there for a moment, just watching her.

She had on just a couple of lamps and the entire place felt warm and cozy and it was because of her. She had done this and he had expected to feel claustrophobic, living with another person in this tiny space but this was Beth and he should have known better because she was the one person he found himself always wanting to be around.

He didn't ask her to move in with him. They didn't have some big conversation about it. They didn't have _any_ conversation about it. It was just one of those things that happened. One day, she was just spending the night there and the next, he bought a few more hangers for the closet and told her to hang her dresses up.

She finished the song and lifted her head and for the first time, she saw him standing there at the door. Her smile was instant and it damn near knocked him back a step that someone smile at him like _that_. Like he was actually someone who mattered to her. And maybe he did. Maybe he was someone special to her because he was still getting to know her but he knew that Beth just didn't smile like that for anyone.

She stood up without a word and came rushing around the keyboard to him. She threw her arms around him and she still didn't say anything as she hugged him tightly. Daryl didn't say anything either. He just wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly to him, nearly lifting her off her feet, her toes skimming the carpet. She smelled good. She always smelled so damn good and tonight, it was buttercream and… he couldn't help but turn his nose into her neck for a deeper sniff. She giggled softly when she felt his nostrils burying to her skin.

Chocolate. Buttercream and chocolate and he wondered what she and Rosita had been doing for the past few hours.

But before he could even think about asking her that, Beth moved her head and cupping his cheeks between her hands, she pressed her lips to his in a light kiss. It was soft and almost hesitant – as if she wasn't sure if he wanted her kissing him – and Daryl wanted her to know that he wanted nothing more than her lips on his.

He lifted his hands and framed her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. He tilted her head gently to the side and listened to her moan softly as he kissed her deeply, his tongue slowly thrusting into her mouth.

He had never really liked kissing that much. The girls at the dark bars who he had kissed when too drunk to even think about what he was doing always tasted like smoke and ash and cheap vodka and they always wore too much damn lipstick.

But Beth tasted as sweet as she smelled and for the first time in his life, Daryl found someone he wanted to kiss and touch for hours and do nothing but that. Of course, if she was looking for more to happen, he wasn't exactly going to say no. He would try but that was only because of Hershel and wanting Beth to still stay good. He couldn't fuck her in the back of his trailer – take her _virginity_ in the back of his trailer – and look at her dad in the eye again.

Beth's hands slid down his chest and his fingers tightened in her hair as he kissed her a little harder. She was wearing it down and he had never cared about a girl's hair or had even noticed it before but he noticed everything about Beth and he really found himself a fan of her hair. He didn't know what it was. Maybe because it was so long and so thick and the color of sunshine and always smelled so good and he loved his fingers in it.

He froze though when he felt her hands sink lower and then her fingers were tracing the band of his jeans. He couldn't help but rip his lips away from hers and stared at her. She looked at him, slightly out of breath, and then she lowered her eyes and he noticed that her cheeks were stained a pink.

He cleared his throat, trying to keep his body from reacting to her touch. "You like the keyboard?" He asked in a gruff voice and he coughed a little to clear it.

Beth lifted her eyes to him and her smile was soft and slow across her lips. "I love it so much, Daryl," she said. "I can't thank you enough."

Daryl rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, glancing to the keyboard before back to her. "Guy at the store said a couple of the keys didn' work," he said.

Beth kept smiling faintly as she shook her head. "That doesn't matter to me. It's absolutely perfect."

He couldn't help but smirk. "Got low standards, girl," he said.

She just kept looking at him with those big eyes of hers and she lifted her arms, winding them around his neck. She stood so close to him, the front of her body was pressed to his, and Daryl was able to ignore the growing hardness in his jeans for the moment as he lifted his hands to rest on her hips. He noticed immediately the slight flinch throughout her body and he was quick to drop his hands. Beth shook her head and dropped her hands to his, twining their fingers together.

"I'm sorry," she was the one to apologize.

"Why?" He couldn't help but look at her with a frown. "I'm the one touchin' you-"

"I want you to touch me," she was quick to interject, squeezing his hands. "I just…" she paused and visibly swallowed. "I'm just really awful looking beneath my clothes," she said and she said it so softly, Daryl felt himself leaning closer to her so he could hear her and when he did, he pulled his head back quickly so she could see his confused and now surprised expression.

"You're crazy," he stated bluntly.

Her lips started to turn upwards in a smile. "I'm not," she shook her head. "I'm the one who sees my naked body every day. I just know, Daryl."

He shook his own head. "You don't know nothin', Beth."

He hadn't gotten the book from the library on anorexia and he wasn't going to pretend like he knew the first thing about her illness or what she went through – or what she was still going through – but he knew that he was attracted to her. He thought about her naked probably more than he thought about anything else. He wanted her. Her. Beth. And it didn't matter to him what she looked like beneath her clothes because no matter what, she would still be Beth.

He pulled his hands from hers and raised them to her cheeks. She was staring at him, obviously waiting for him to say something or to make a move and he had never been one for talking anyway.

He kissed her – probably a little too hard – but Beth didn't seem to care as her own hands cupped his cheeks and it was as if whatever had been holding him back completely fell apart and he couldn't hold it back. He opened his mouth against hers and she moaned, her fingers sliding back into his hair, as his tongue tangled with hers. He began pushing her backwards, gently and yet with urgency, and her arms clasped around his neck, moaning again. Every time she moaned, it shot right down to his crotch and he just wanted to shove her dress up and pound into her.

Instead, he gently pushed her onto the bed and knelt on the floor in front of her. His hands slid over her knees and up her thighs, beginning to push her dress up but Beth's own hands quickly covered his, stopping him.

"Wait," she said, panting.

Daryl immediately stilled his hands and looked up to her face. He didn't say anything; just waited for her to say something else.

"I love your fingers in me," she said, her cheeks tinting pink as she did. "But I want to try something else."

Daryl felt his heart drum a little faster in his chest. "What do you wanna try?" He could hardly believe that he had actually been able to form the words and get them out.

She looked at him for a moment and didn't say anything. Instead, she pushed her head to his, her hands on his cheeks as her lips pressed to his. She moved her mouth slowly against his as if she was acquainting herself with his lips and his taste and Daryl sat there on his knees, letting her do whatever she wanted to do to him. When it came to Beth Greene, he was pretty sure both of them knew he was completely fucked. He was powerless against her as any junkie would be and anything she wanted from him, she could take.

But then her lips were gone and he opened his eyes to see her hands moving behind her. He stared into her face and she stared into his and slowly, she pulled the zipper of her dress down and he swore that it was so quiet in that bedroom except for their heavy breathings, he could actually hear the hiss of the lowering zipper.

Beth never moved her eyes away from his face as she pulled her arms through the small sleeves and brought the dress down. He could see her trembling as she sat there with her dress bunched around her waist and in a simple white cotton bra. She was no longer looking at him and he couldn't look anywhere else but her.

She was skinny. Really fucking skinny and he had been expecting it and yet, he hadn't really been expecting this at all. He knew she had been in a clinic for her eating and they must have let her go if they thought she was better but looking at her now, he couldn't help but wonder what she had looked like _before_ if they had let her out with her looking like this. But she was still her. Still Beth.

He heard a shaky breath and lifting his eyes, he looked to Beth's face and saw two tears slowly trickling down from her eyes – one on each cheek.

"Beth," he said her name and her eyes instantly lifted to look at him.

Without a word, he pushed himself forward and he reached out, his eyes locking with hers. She stared at him and he moved slowly, making sure that she had the time to stop him at any time if that was what she wanted. His hands slipped around to her back and his fingers found the clasp of her bra. She was breathing a little heavier but she wasn't crying anymore as she looked into his eyes. He unhooked her bra and slowly brought the straps down, Beth moving her arms back so he could take it off.

Her breasts were small, tiny mounds and her nipples were hard in the cool air of that trailer bedroom. Daryl stared at them for a hard minute, practically studying them, and he then looked up to Beth. She looked so damn terrified, trembling again.

His hands slowly went to her sides and began moving them upwards. She gasped softly, sharply, when his thumbs swiped across her nipples and they seemed to harden even more under his touch. He did it again, listening to the breath catch in her throat, and he lifted his eyes to hers.

"You're so fuckin' pretty, Beth," he said in a low gruff, his voice rough and deep, and his thumbs never stopped moving back and forth across her nipples – her hard, pointed, perfect nipples.

Beth lifted her hands and pushed his hair back from his face as he leaned in and fused his lips to hers. He kissed her hard again and his hands molded around her breasts, squeezing them gently, feeling her moan into his mouth, her own fingers gripping his hair. He nearly moaned, too, because he had Beth Greene sitting topless on his bed and her breasts were in his hands and he was getting so damn hard, he wondered if he would actually blow in his jeans.

"Daryl," she whimpered his name and tugged on his hair.

He pushed himself forward and kissed her harder and Beth pulled him closer to her. He didn't think about it and she didn't stop him and he pushed her onto her back as he settled himself on top of her. Their mouths didn't part except for each to take the occasional quick inhale of air before their lips molded together again.

He hadn't realized she was that close but when he moved his mouth down and closed his lips around one of her nipples and gently sucked, she suddenly cried out. She tensed beneath him and her back arched from the bed and then a tremor shook through her body as her sudden orgasm raked over her.

Daryl lifted his head and looked at her in wonderment, watching her panting.

"Damn," he breathed.

Her eyes were closed and she was breathing heavily, her chest heaving up and down as her fingers still tangled in his hair.

"You like that, huh?" He asked and he couldn't help but smirk a little because it was pretty damn obvious that she had.

Beth didn't say anything. She just nodded her head rapidly and his smirk slid into a little smile. He didn't say anything either. He just dipped down and put his mouth back to her breast.

...

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**I have reworked my outline and I have removed the Karen part from the last chapter and all of her from the rest of the story. **

***Please remember: This is not a story of S4-S5 Beth. This is a story about Beth _becoming_** **S4-S5 Beth. Anorexia, and all eating disorders, are complicated and I feel like those calling Beth weak as they read are not being as understanding or compassionate to the disease as they could be.***

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…

**Chapter Twenty-Three. **

After church and breakfast, Beth and Rosita spent the day around the farm, playing with the baby lamb that had just been born that week and teaching Rosita how to ride a horse though she said time and again that she was a city girl and there was no way she was getting onto a moving object that didn't come with an actual brake. But she got onto the horse and trotted alongside Beth as they rode to one of the hills that overlooked most of Hershel's lands and the woods surrounding it.

They sat in the grass together and as Rosita lay on her back, watching the white puffs of clouds slowly passing by in the sky, Beth sat up, braiding a head wreath with a lapful of dandelions she had plucked.

"So, how was it?" Rosita asked.

"How was what?" Beth looked at her, her fingers never stopping tying the flowers together. She had never considered dandelions weeds – even when her mama tried to correct her when she was little and said dandelions were her favorite flower.

Rosita turned her head and smiled at her. "The sex."

Beth immediately felt her face warm and she darted her eyes back down to the dandelions. "Daryl and I didn't have sex," she shook her head as she said it and she felt a tugging in her stomach that she could almost mistake for disappointment.

She wondered when they would; _if_ they would. Daryl didn't seem like he was in a hurry to do that with her and if he was, he seemed to be hiding it rather well. She felt her brow furrow. Did Daryl want to have sex with her? He had surprised her last night, seeing her body and not turning away from her completely. She had just assumed… she had to stop doing that. Daryl Dixon surprised her again and again.

Rosita pushed herself up on her elbows. "You didn't?" She looked genuinely surprised. "But you… you've been glowing all day."

"I have?" Beth lifted a hand to her cheek as if she could actually feel it.

Rosita grinned. "So, there was no sex but there was definitely something, right?"

Beth immediately opened her mouth to deny it but she found something stopping herself. This was Rosita and Rosita was her best friend and if anyone could give her some advice, it was Rosita.

She normally would have gone to Maggie but she couldn't talk to her sister about this. Beth was not blind. She knew she and her sister were no longer friends and they probably never would be again because to Maggie, nothing mattered. It didn't matter that Beth was slowly getting herself better because to Maggie, she would never be better. She would always be a girl who had come close to starving herself to death and Beth knew that no matter what she did or said, nothing would change Maggie's opinion of her. And Beth wanted to snap at her and yell at her to open her eyes. That she had made a mistake but she was still here and she was trying but she couldn't. Maybe someday, she would be able to but right now, she felt more comfortable with avoiding her sister altogether.

"There was something," Beth nodded her head, smiling faintly, blushing shyly.

Rosita let out a laugh and pushed herself from the grass, sitting up. "I knew it!" She beamed and she seemed almost proud of herself for having guessed correctly. "How was it? What did you do?"

Beth felt her blush deepen. "It was wonderful but… it wasn't the first time," she said.

Rosita gasped at that. "Elizabeth Greene!" She swatted at Beth's knee playfully and this time, Beth found herself laughing a little, too. "I mean, I could tell you were absolutely crazy for one another but now, you're hot, too! Tell me everything." She turned to Beth and drew her knees up to her chest, hugging her arms around them.

Beth looked down to the dandelions in her lap. "He's used his fingers a few times."

Rosita let out a dreamy sigh. "There's something so dirty about that, isn't there? I mean, especially with Daryl. Just think about it. He's working on cars all day, his hands covered in grease and oil, and then he puts those same fingers inside of you."

"Rosita," Beth laughed, from embarrassment this time though a part of her was definitely agreeing with her. There _was_ something dirty about it and hot and oddly enough, something romantic that she still couldn't completely figure out herself.

"And what else?" Rosita kept smiling as she looked at her.

"Last night… my breasts…" Beth tried to say but she wasn't able to get the words out. Her fingers began braiding the dandelions together again.

Rosita stared at her, her mouth slightly hanging open and for a moment, it seemed as if she wouldn't be able to see anything. "You let… without a shirt?" She asked.

Beth nodded and looked at her again. She understood Rosita's surprise. If Beth could, she probably would have taken a shower wearing a bathing suit.

"How was it?" Rosita was able to ask.

"It was… nice," she settled on. "More than nice," she was quick to amend and felt a blush creeping up her cheeks again. "He didn't run away so that was a good sign."

"Of course he didn't," Rosita smiled easily now. "He's in love with you." Beth's eyes widened as she looked at her. Rosita just smiled. "What?" She laughed a little. "It's pretty damn obvious, Beth."

Beth didn't know what to say to that so she didn't say anything. Was it obvious? It had taken her a bit of time to figure it out for herself and now, she wondered how long he had loved her; how long _she_ had loved him. Maybe it was just one of those things that happened. Slowly and naturally and she had never been in love before so perhaps she had been expecting fireworks or some huge revelation but it seemed like falling in love with Daryl Dixon happened like everything else with him had.

Quietly.

They walked the horses back instead of riding and when they were in the barn, Beth showing Rosita how to brush them down, they could hear footsteps approaching across the barn floor and Beth lifted her head, instantly smiling upon seeing Daryl, his crossbow on his back.

"Hi," she said, well aware that she was smiling widely and probably looking like an idiot but she couldn't seem to help herself. "I thought you would be hunting."

"Hey," he said in his grunt as he approached them. "I was. Your dad gave me a call."

Her brow furrowed at that before she thought for a moment and then couldn't help but groan softly. "He's probably going to give you the talk now."

"The talk?" Daryl's lips weighed down in a frown.

Beth sighed. "The talk that he's given to all of Maggie's boyfriends. The "you break her heart and I break you" talk."

"Feel like I've already had that talk with him," Daryl said.

"Really?" Beth couldn't help but be surprised. "When?"

He shrugged. "Couple of times, it feels like. I got you a rabbit," he then said.

Beth smiled at that. "For me?"

"Not as a pet," he said. "Got a bolt through it."

She laughed. "A dead animal is as almost romantic as a chocolate bar," she teased and he smirked at that.

"I'll 'member that," he said.

The three left the barn and headed towards the house, Daryl grabbing the door and holding it open for them. Rosita walked in but Beth lingered behind, looking up at him. He stared down at her and didn't say anything and she pushed herself up on her toes and kissed him. Just a small, short kiss but it gave her the same tingles that kissing Daryl always gave her. When she pulled her lips back, she looked at him and he was still staring at her and she gave him a small smile.

"Are you staying here for dinner?" She asked.

"Guess if your pops kills me, I'll be here anyway," he shrugged.

She smiled, almost laughed a little. "I always thought underneath the pecan trees in back would be a beautiful final resting place. I'll talk to Merle. See if he agrees."

"I've figured you out, girl," he said with his lips twitching upwards. "You might have everyone else fooled but not me."

She laughed then, soft and light, and she knew her eyes were twinkling as she looked at him; could practically feel them. "And what have you figured out?"

He leaned his head in closer to hers then as if about to tell her some great secret and Beth looked into his eyes, feeling her heart thump at the base of her throat. He was so handsome. The most handsome boy she had ever seen. No. _Man_. And this man loved her. She knew he did. And she apparently wasn't the only one to see it. She wondered if Daryl even knew that he loved her or it he was completely unaware of it. It didn't matter either way because she knew that he would come to that realization eventually; probably as suddenly as it had struck Beth.

"You're not some sweet girl at all," he told her in a low voice that gave her shivers.

"I'm not?" She kept smiling faintly, her eyes looking up at him and he leaned his head down a little closer to her.

"Everyone thinks you're just some weaklin'," Daryl continued. "But you ain't. You're gonna be the last girl standin'."

Beth couldn't help it. How could she after he said such a thing to her?

She put her hands on his cheeks and she didn't care that they were standing in the front doorway of her daddy's farmhouse. She stretched her neck out and kissed him and she felt his hand lightly cupping her elbow as he pressed his lips back to hers.

"Ah, Dixon, I thought I heard someone defiling my little sister in the hallway," Shawn said, approaching them from down the hallway with a grin on his face.

Daryl instantly yanked his head back at the sound of his voice and Beth turned hers to look at her brother with a frown.

"Shawn, do you have to be so annoying?" She asked.

"Yep," he just kept grinning. He took a step closer to him and leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper. "So I know you've already told me, but Rosita…"

"Not a chance," Beth shook her head.

She wouldn't dare tell Shawn that someone else had caught her eye and had confided in her about it when they had been at the trailer the night before.

"He's married, Rosita," Beth said, trying to keep the frown from her face.

"I know!" Rosita was quick to defend herself. "And I would _never_ even think about going after him because of that. I just think he's very nice… hot. It's the uniform."

Beth had never understood that when other girls had said that. She had never looked at a man wearing some sort of uniform and having to fan herself because of it. Although she did admit that Daryl's Dale's Garage tee-shirt did make her feel warm, that was completely different because that was Daryl. Even now, in jeans with a hole in the knee and a sleeveless flannel shirt and dirt streaked on his skin, he was making her feel as if she was tingling all over.

"Dad's in the backyard, checking out the generator. Asked for you to meet him out there," Shawn said to Daryl, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Daryl nodded and looked at Beth and she gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand. She watched him walk towards the back of the house and then a moment later, the screen door screeched open on its hinges and slapped shut again. Beth exhaled a deep breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and her eyes caught Shawn, her brother just looking at her with a grin.

"What?" She tried to frown and not act so nervous.

"Dad already gave you permission to live with the guy," Shawn said. "He's not going to shoot him _now_."

"What do you think he wants to talk with him about then?" Beth couldn't help fidgeting with her fingers in front of her.

Shawn shrugged. "Probably just wants to know what his intentions towards you are," he said rather casually but his answer just made Beth feel sick.

His intentions? Is that really what Hershel walked to talk with Daryl about? And what on earth would Daryl's answer be to that if that was the question? What would the right answer be and what did Beth want the answer to be? She realized she had no idea. She hadn't thought about it. She tried not to think too much of the future. She put her focus on living each day and getting through that one without worrying about all of the days could come she couldn't see yet. She didn't plan for things – not anymore. She had learned that planning for things was always so useless and if her daddy asked her right now what her future with Daryl was, Beth wouldn't know.

Would Daryl?

After dinner, Daryl left again to go back into the woods to hunt a little bit more before the sun was completely gone and Beth spent a couple of more hours with Rosita before hugging her and her family goodnight before she stared home. Hershel had told Shawn to drive her but Beth had told them not to be silly. She wasn't even a mile away and she knew the way by heart now – even in the evening twilight. They didn't need to baby her.

When she came through the woods upon the trailer, Daryl was sitting on the front steps, smoking a cigarette, and she smiled, her heart beating a little bit faster as she came to him. Without a word, she sat down beside him and Daryl was quick to turn his head, exhaling a stream of smoke away from her.

"Did my daddy scare you?" Beth asked after a few minutes of quiet between them – the sounds of the woods around them, now familiar to her, filling the air instead.

He smirked a little. "Your daddy could scare anyone if he wanted to. Man may look like Santa Claus but when it comes to you…" he trailed off then and inhaled another puff from his cigarette. "Told him you were strong and you could kick my ass if you ever wanted to."

Beth's eyes widened though at his words. "Did he think _you_ would… hurt me?"

"Yeah," he gave a single nod. "Not just with my fists either."

"You would _never_ hurt me." Beth felt her frown grow heavier and her stomach began churning with anger.

How dare her daddy say those things to Daryl! Daryl may have been a Dixon and some of the Dixons had a certain reputation but Daryl was not like that and she had thought her daddy knew that already. He must have if he didn't put up a fight about Beth moving in to live with this man.

"He didn't mean much by it," Daryl looked at her as if reading her thoughts and then shrugged. "Just a dad sayin' somethin' to a guy who's datin' his daughter."

Beth felt almost all of the anger evaporate though some of it still lingered at the base of her spine. She looked at him as he put the cigarette butt under the heel of his boot and he extinguished it before turning his head and looking at her, too.

"Is that what we're doing? Dating?" She asked and she sounded almost breathless.

"I still gotta take you out on that date but… yeah. I mean, ain't we?" He asked, his brow crinkling a little as he frowned as if the whole thing confused him.

And she knew exactly how he felt because it was always making her head spin.

"It ain't like I'm askin' every other girl to come and live with me," he added and she laughed softly at that before leaning in and pressing her lips to his in a quick kiss.

"You're very sweet to me, Daryl Dixon," she then told him in a quiet voice as if she didn't want anything else around them to hear.

He snorted at that, shaking his head. "We really got to raise your standards, Beth."

"Don't do that," she looked at him and he kept his eyes locked with hers. "You're amazing, Daryl, and you've been nothing but kind to me. Most people… they treat me like I'm about to break or I'm crazy or they avoid even looking me in the eye as if I'll give them some disease but now you."

"I avoided you for a while," Daryl pointed out to her in a low voice.

"But then you didn't and the day we started talking to each other, _really_ talking to each other, I know that that is still one of the best days of my life," she said. "And don't talk about standards," she quickly added and he smirked at that.

She leaned into him then and she found herself staring into his eyes and she wasn't able to get herself to look away. She realized she really didn't want to look anywhere else but him in that moment – and maybe all of the moments from now on.

"I love you," she whispered to him then.

If her mom's sudden death had taught her anything, it was that life was too short and keeping feelings bottled in without ever letting them out and expressing them to the person they were about was such a waste. Life was too short to waste it.

He didn't say anything – just stared at her, his face blank and his eyes dark – but she wasn't going to take it back. Why would she ever do that? Her stomach churned as if she had eaten the wrong thing at dinner and her heart was pounding so loudly, she wondered if he could hear it as it drowned in her own ears. He didn't say anything and she hadn't expected him to. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't say anything.

She took a deep breath and exhaled it out softly and stared into his eyes.

"I love you, Daryl Dixon."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	24. Chapter 24

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**Chapter Twenty-Four.**

Beth moaned softly into his mouth as her fingers gripped strands of his hair and he pushed her back harder against the brick wall in response, kissing her probably too hard but he couldn't get himself to ease off of her. It seemed like the second the other guys left for the lunch hour and the garage was closed, he and Beth went out back as they usually did but he didn't feel like eating his bologna sandwich today.

_I love you, Daryl Dixon_.

He could remember every time anyone had ever said those words to him in his life. Definitely never by his old man. Will Dixon was the meanest son of a bitch who had ever lived and he hadn't seemed as if he was capable of love. His mama had told him a couple of times when he was younger but she had been so trashed at the time, Daryl hadn't thought that she even realized what she was saying.

Merle was the only one who had told him throughout his life that he loved him. Sometimes, it had been said in a taunting way – strung out on pills or drunk just like their parents – telling him that no one would ever love him the way ol' Merle did and for the longest time, Daryl believed him without question. But then, as the years went on, and Daryl's life changed and Merle was in prison and then out again and his life changed, too, it came to be more genuine, always with a clap on the back and a "Love you, baby brother" as Daryl left after coming over for dinner.

And now, Beth Greene had said them to him. Beth Greene with her golden hair and her shy smile and he almost wanted to ask what the hell she was doing with a guy like him, kissing him and letting him press her against a wall and loving him? She loved him. He told himself that again and again, her words echoing in his head, but it still didn't make any sense to him. A girl like Beth Greene couldn't be in love with a guy like him and a part of him just wanted to pull away from her and ask her what the hell she was thinking – or ask her if she was thinking at all.

But another part of him kept kissing her and didn't want to stop kissing her because Beth Green _loved _him. She loved _him_ and maybe he was selfish and maybe he didn't deserve that in the least but a part of him didn't want her to stop and take it back. He wanted to let her words wash over him because ever since she had said them to him, Daryl had felt a little bit warmer; as if the sun was shining just for him.

He had never felt anything like it before because he had never been truly loved. And even though he thought that maybe Beth was out of her mind for doing so and clearly not thinking, he knew that Beth did love him. Someone loved him. Beth. And it made it feel like he could do anything right now. He could climb this brick wall like he was fucking Spiderman if he wanted to. He could go inside and lift one of those cars up with his bare hands. This was better than any high he had ever had and he was already being greedy in thinking that he wanted this to last as long as it could.

"Daryl," she murmured his name then and he slowly pulled his lips back from hers, his eyes opening to see her own fluttering open and when she met his, she smiled.

He looked at her for a few minutes or maybe a few hours. He couldn't be sure. He just knew he had never liked looking at something as much as he liked looking at her. He wanted to look at her for as long as he could.

"We should eat," he then said and she nodded though her hands remained on his shoulders and she seemed just as reluctant to have their bodies separate. He leaned in once more and kissed her – making sure he kept it a short kiss – before he forced himself to take a step backwards. "Come on, Greene. I gotta keep my strength up."

She laughed softly at that and he smiled a little. He sank down against the wall to the ground and Beth lowered herself beside him. He had his bologna sandwich as always and a bag of potato chips and Beth reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic container of a salad she had made that morning. She really loved eating salads but Daryl wasn't going to dare make a comment about it because it wasn't as if she was just eating lettuce. She had cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and croutons and he had to remind himself that for a girl like Beth, that would be more than enough. He had to remind himself that she couldn't eat the amount of food he did. It would probably make her sick if she did. Beth ate and he saw her eat and that's what mattered. He had to remind himself of that.

"The cat's back," she noted and Daryl lifted his eyes to see the stray tabby cat sitting a few feet away from them, staring at them; staring right at Daryl.

He sighed. "Damn cat. Never should have started feedin' it. I'm not able to eat an entire sandwich anymore."

Beth giggled softly at that and despite his grumblings, Daryl ripped off a bit of a piece of bologna and leaning forward, he tossed it towards the cat.

"We should name him," Beth mused, watching as the cat greedily ate the offering.

"Why?" Daryl took another bite of his sandwich.

She shrugged. "The cat's always hanging around the garage and seems to like you."

"'cause I feed it," he pointed out to her, his eyes back to watching the cat, amazed when the cat felt brave enough to close a little bit more space between them. His tail was swishing back and forth against the ground and Daryl couldn't help but rip off another piece of bologna and toss it to him. "Should name it Meyer," he said.

"Meyer?" She turned her head to look at him, smiling at that.

Daryl shrugged, not looking at her because he could feel the tips of his ears already burning and he didn't want to break out into a full damn blush around her. "Always givin' it bologna and I don't want to name it Oscar. Don't want the human Oscar to think I named it for him."

Beth giggled again and she leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. "I think Meyer is the perfect cat name."

Daryl didn't say anything else as he finished his sandwich and kept watching the cat now named Meyer and smelling the faint scent of buttercream waft into his nose. He could hear her crunching on croutons and lettuce and besides that and the gentle breeze blowing that afternoon, everything else around them seemed absolutely quiet; as if, behind Dale's garage, they were the only two living people left in this world and Daryl thought that if that was actually the truth, he would be more than fine with it.

If he thought about it – and he found himself thinking about it often – he wondered how the hell this had happened and how he had wound up in this place with Beth. Living with her and kissing her, as well as doing other things to her, and having her tell him that she loved him. Just a couple of months ago, it was just him and he was fine with that. Or so he thought. He had a few friends and would go over to Merle and Annie's for dinner but he didn't have anyone and no one had him and that was the way he liked it. Just him in his trailer in the middle of the woods.

He had tried so hard to ignore Beth's existence in the garage office, but somehow, she had slipped in past his defenses and now that she was there, he found himself not wanting her to go anytime soon. He knew he wasn't in love with her. He was pretty sure he didn't know how to love a person. He loved Merle, sure, but he wasn't looking to have the same kind of relationship with Beth that he had with his brother. He loved Rick, too, but Rick was like another brother and loved him like one.

He had never been _in_ love with a woman before and he didn't know if a person was born with that ability or learned it because he knew he wasn't born with anything like that. He didn't know how to love or be in love and he wondered if Beth would keep loving him if she knew that he couldn't love her back.

"Merle and me are goin' out tonight after work," he told her as they finished their lunches near the end of the hour and began cleaning up their trash.

"Up to some trouble?" She gave him a teasing smile.

"We're Dixons so prob'ly," he said.

He stood up first and held out his hand to her, which she took with a smile. He gently pulled her to her feet and as she stood, she leaned into his chest. His hand slipped from hers so his arm could wind around her waist and without thinking about it more, he leaned down and kissed her just as she tilted her chin up towards him.

He knew he didn't love her but there was so much about her that he did love. He loved kissing her and feeling the softness of her lips and how even after eating a salad with some tangy dressing on it, she still tasted so sweet to him. He loved the way she lifted a hand and rested it lightly against the side of his neck and the way she moaned softly into his mouth and the way her slight body pressed against his.

If it was at all possible, he would kiss Beth Greene for the rest of his life.

Martinez was in charge of the music today so the afternoon was spent with AC/DC blasting through the garage and him singing along and using a wrench as a guitar. Dale had told him more than once to turn it down and Beth had closed the door between then garage and office so she could hear when she was on the phone. By the time closing time came around, Daryl had a headache and he was more than ready to go out with his brother for a couple of beers.

Beth finished cleaning up her desk sooner than usual and she came out into the garage when the other guys were still there, cleaning up their stations. He lifted his head, flicking his hair out of his eyes, and she gave him a small smile.

"Shawn is picking me up and I'm going to have dinner at the farm tonight," she said.

"'kay," he nodded.

"Have fun with Merle," she said, still smiling that small smile of hers, and he nodded again. She didn't move in to kiss him – not with the others around – and Daryl could feel the eyes of the other guys glancing over in their direction, clearly expecting them to. Daryl didn't feel like giving them a show and Beth seemed to know that. He didn't know how she knew him so well already.

"See you at home," he said and her smile was a little brighter at his words as she turned and he watched her walk out of the garage, heading into the parking lot. A moment later, he watched as her brother pulled in and Beth got into the car, giving Daryl one last time through the window before Shawn drove off again.

"I have no idea how you control yourself 'round her, boy!" Axel exclaimed with an almost gleeful tinkle in his eyes. "Prettiest girl in the whole town and you've got her wrapped around your greasy fingers."

Daryl found himself frowning. "I don't have Beth wrapped 'round nothin'," he said.

Martinez laughed at that. "Well, at least that answers whether or not you're hitting that every night in that trailer of yours."

Daryl turned a steely glare on him, his hands curling into fists. "Best watch your mouth," he warned not only Martinez but Axel, too. Zach was staying silent.

Axel didn't seem to take the hint though and he laughed a little. "Course, I bet it helps that she's… well, you know."

Daryl stared at him, feeling the heat rushing through his veins, being carried on his boiling blood as his anger rose.

"Nothin' like hittin' on a girl when she's at her most vulnerable," Axel continued. "Probably the only way guys like us could ever have a shot with a girl like Beth," he laughed then but all Daryl heard was all of the sound suddenly fall out around him.

And with that one comment, Daryl felt all fury in his body completely extinguish. He looked at Axel and though he still wanted to punch him in the mouth, the need didn't feel as urgent anymore. Within a few seconds, the urge had died down to almost nothing because even though he ignored the guys most of the time when they were talking about women, this time, Daryl couldn't help but have Axel's words ring in his ears because he was right. For once, Axel was absolutely right.

Daryl turned his head to look out at the parking lot as if he was expecting Beth to still be there. _I love you, Daryl Dixon_. He heard her words whisper in his ears.

No, she didn't. She couldn't possibly love him. Not when she was like this. She was sick. Getting better, yes, but still sick and he was taking complete advantage of her right now. There was no way Beth was in her right mind to be thinking clearly. She wasn't weak but she wasn't strong either and as Axel had said, she was vulnerable and was he using that to his advantage?

Beth was a beautiful girl and Daryl had never had anything beautiful in his life before. She was making him the center of her world and Daryl had never been important to anyone like that before. Was that why he was doing this with her? Because she made him feel good and important and he wanted to keep feeling that way? He was using Beth Greene.

The admittance in his mind nearly knocked him back a step. He hadn't even realized he was doing it but that's what he had to be doing because there was really no reason why two people like them would ever be together. They were just too damn different and there wasn't a single part of himself that was worthy of Beth Greene.

Hershel had just talked to him about not breaking Beth's heart and Daryl had promised the old man that he wasn't looking to ever do something like that but this whole time, that was exactly what he was doing because there was no way this could end between them without Beth getting her heart broken. And of course this was going to end because there was no way it could go on for much longer.

He was going to break her heart because this whole damn time, he was being with her because she made him feel good. He thought of how he felt like the sun was shining just for him and how that was because of Beth and he had never had the sun shine for him before. What person wouldn't want that feeling to last?

How could he not have realized this sooner? He had known how good she was and he should have known better than putting his hands anywhere on her, let alone put himself anywhere near her. Somehow, he had fooled her into thinking that she loved him and he had actually convinced himself of it, too, even though this whole time, he should have known that this whole thing was too good to be true.

He didn't remember finishing cleaning his station or getting on his bike and driving to Joe's Bar where he was meeting Merle for a couple of beers. He walked in and saw his brother already there, laughing with his buddy, Joe, the owner and bartender about something. Daryl felt himself moving towards him and sitting on a stool beside him but he still felt like he couldn't hear anything.

"Wha's the matter with you, boy?" Merle asked, frowning as Joe placed a bottle of beer down in front of Daryl.

Daryl went a minute without answering.

"Daryl," Merle snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Wha's goin' on?"

Daryl seemed to shake himself out of it and he looked at Merle. He tried to swallow the thickness down that was strangling his throat.

"I'mma piece of shit," he stated.

"Huh," Merle blinked at that. He picked up his beer bottle and shrugged as he took a quick guzzle. "Well, course you are. We're Dixons. It's what we are."

And it wasn't what Daryl wanted to hear but it was what he needed to hear in that moment because he knew it was the truth.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Yesterday was such a terrible day for me and thank you so much to those who sent me messages on my tumblr. I can't tell you how much your love and support for this story means to me. I woke up in a much better place and I am going to keep telling this story. In the next chapter, we have Daryl learning more of Beth's eating disorder. **

**To those that hate this story and insist on telling me about it, if after twenty-four chapters, you are still reading a story you despise so much and sending me cruel reviews to tell me about it, I am not going to let you get to me anymore. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Five.**

She was almost asleep when she heard his bike outside and then moments later, she heard his steps on the porch and the front door being unlocked and creaking on its hinges as he opened it. She rolled over and looked at the clock, letting out a yawn as she did. It was a little before midnight and she laid there, listening to him as he moved around the front of the trailer. Dropping his keys on the counter, getting himself a glass of water from the sink tap. He came into the room a moment later and he stood there, looking at her.

"Is everything alright?" Beth asked, her voice slightly rough from not being used in a couple of hours.

He nodded but still didn't say anything. He kept standing and Beth looked up at him, feeling her brow furrow the longer she looked at him. He finally let out a soft breath and turned, sitting down on the edge of the bed, his back towards her. She rolled onto her side, looking at him. The moon was big and bright that night, shining through the trees and through the open blinds of the windows. She watched him sitting there, his arms on his knees and the glass of water between his hands.

"Was talkin' with Merle at the bar," he said and he broke the silence so suddenly, it startled her. "Merle was doin' most of the talkin' actually. Told me some things."

She wasn't sure why but she felt nervous. "What did he tell you?" She asked softly.

"I've been thinkin'…" he trailed off for a moment. "I've been thinkin' a lot of stupid stuff. 'bout you and me."

Beth felt her stomach clench but she didn't say anything. She pushed her hands down onto the mattress and sat up. She drew her knees up, hugging them to her chest, and she looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Was thinkin' that maybe I don't deserve you or that I was maybe usin' you."

Beth immediately opened her mouth to argue with him and ask him how he could possibly be using her but Daryl didn't give her a chance. He kept talking.

"But Merle didn' waste time in straightening me out. We're Dixons and we're pieces of shit…" he trailed off again and he turned his head, looking at her. "But I think I'm a less piece of shit when I'm with you."

Daryl turned a little to face her more.

"My mom died and my dad used me as his own punchin' bag for years, beatin' the shit out of me whenever he felt like it. And even after bein' on my own for a while, I didn' think I had that much good 'round me." He shrugged his shoulders then and lowered his eyes to the bedspread. "Guess I don't really know how to act with somethin' as good as you suddenly bein' in my life."

He was quiet after that and he didn't open his mouth to say anything else. Beth figured he was probably tired. She had never heard him say so much at once before and he probably wasn't used to stringing that many words together. But everything he had said had been absolutely perfect and whatever Merle had said to him in the bar earlier that night, Beth reminded herself that she would have to thank him.

Beth pushed herself forward and sat on her knees beside him.

She had no idea that he had been having doubts like this and she wondered if they should talk about it more. Maybe they would – later – but not right now. Not tonight. Tonight, he had thought some things and admitted some things and maybe tonight, it was all alright.

She slid her hands over his cheeks and he tilted his eyes up, looking at her. She gave him a small smile and then without a word, she leaned down and brushed her lips against his.

"I don't think you're a piece of shit, Daryl Dixon," she said in a whisper.

He smirked at that, turning more towards her, a hand sliding up her back to the back of her neck. "Did you just swear?" He asked.

She smiled, her cheeks warm. "I might have," she said and he smirked at that. "It was exactly what I wanted to say to you though."

Daryl leaned over, setting the glass of water down on the bedside table, and then he was able to slide his other hand up her side. He pulled on her gently, silently beckoning her to come closer, and Beth shifted herself, sitting down sideways on his lap, her arms sliding around his neck.

She looked at him and he didn't say anything as he leaned in and brushed his lips across hers this time. "I love you," she whispered.

He nodded and visibly swallowed, his eyes darting down for only a moment before they lifted back to her. "I believe you," he said quietly and she hadn't even known that he had been doubting her. "I don't know what to do," he then admitted.

She shook her head. "You don't have to do anything, Daryl. Just… feel it."

He nodded again but he still looked nervous. Or maybe it was uncertain. She couldn't be sure and she tightened her arms around his neck, hugging him. She heard him sigh softly and his arms bound around her waist, hugging her a little too tightly but there wasn't a single part of her that cared.

There were so many things she wanted to tell him besides that she loved him. She wanted to tell him that before him, she hadn't thought she would ever be happy again. She didn't know if she even _wanted_ to be happy. Her life had seemed so set in stone. She had been terribly sick and she was getting better but she would always be sick and everything she did for the rest of her life would be about food and weight and everyone watching her – either pitying her or wanting to stifle her.

With Daryl though, she felt happy. She felt like she could breathe.

But she didn't tell him any of that. She would someday but not right now. Right now, she was just going to hug him and kiss him and hope that he could feel her love for him because if anyone deserved to be loved in this world, it was him. She didn't know anything about his childhood – just what he had said just now but she wasn't surprised. She had had a feeling it had been something like that and it really did explain so much about him. He had been horribly abused and he was still feeling the pain of it so many years later. She knew she wanted to help him like he was helping her. She just hoped she would be able to. Hopefully, if she kept loving him, it would start to make a difference.

She wanted to help him. She wanted to be good for him like he was good for her.

Beth pulled her head back and she brushed hair back from his face before kissing him. Not just a brush of lips but a kiss with soft pressure and her hands in his hair and she felt Daryl's lips pressing against hers in response. She was slowly lowered down onto her back with Daryl above her and he was kissing her a little harder now. She welcomed it happily and she arched her back up from the bed slightly as she felt one of his hands drift down the side of her body to her thigh.

His lips were suddenly gone and her eyes snapped open to look up at him, wondering why he had stopped when he had already been making her feel so good.

"Tomorrow, at the garage, I'm prob'ly gonna punch Axel in the face," he said unexpectedly. "Jus' so you know. Don't want you to worry or nothin'."

She looked at him, a little confused but more amused than anything and she let out a soft laugh, nodding her head. "Okay…" she said, not to sure what to say besides that and Daryl's lips formed into a small smirk before he lowered his head down and kissed her again, his body settling down on top of hers.

…

"I love everything you've done here," Annie smiled as she spun in a small circle, looking around at the front of the trailer. "When it was just Daryl, it was such a guy place but now, it looks like a home."

Beth smiled at the compliment. "I didn't want to change too much. It's still his place."

"It's _both_ of yours," Annie turned back to her. "And fresh flowers never killed anyone." With that, she leaned forward and sniffed at the bouquet of fresh wildflowers in a pitcher on the table.

Beth laughed, going towards the cabinet to pull down glasses for the pitcher of fresh lemonade she had made. "I just picked those yesterday. Daryl was trying to show me how to find my way around in the woods without my compass but I saw these growing and I got distracted. I don't think Daryl was excited about them as I was."

Annie laughed, leaning against the counter, watching her. "Those Dixons take their woods so seriously. Merle has tried to show me a few things but if I feel something even brush against my leg, I shriek. I am not an outdoors girl," she said and it was Beth's turn to laugh.

It was a warm spring day – summer nearly upon them – and the windows in the trailer were open as well as the front door, allowing a gentle breeze to blow in through the screens. Birds were chirping and the sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day, Beth was humming as she moved around the small kitchenette, getting lunch ready. Merle and Daryl were outside, working under the hood of the pickup truck, more swear words leaving Merle's mouth than any other kind. Rick and Lori Grimes were coming over, too, but they hadn't arrived yet and Daryl had seemed hesitant about inviting them though he hadn't explained why.

"How is everything going between you two?" Annie asked in a softer voice, not wanting it to carry outside.

Beth smiled and nodded. "It's going really well. I'm so happy and I think he's happy, too," she said.

"He is. Trust me," Annie was quick to say. "I've never seen Daryl quite like this. He was always so quiet and serious and… brooding? I don't know if that's the word and he's still quiet and serious but he smiles a lot more now. He doesn't constantly look like he's so stiff, you know?"

Beth glanced over her shoulder as if she expected Daryl to be standing there before she leaned in a little closer to Annie, also lowering her voice.

"Does Merle… does he ever talk about-"

"His childhood?" Annie guessed and Beth nodded, relieved that she got it because she hadn't been sure how to ask. "Not really. I'm taking that Daryl doesn't either?"

"No," Beth said. "And I'm not asking him to. I know he'll probably never talk about it with me and that's fine. He never has to talk about it. I was just… curious."

"I get it," Annie replied. "And Merle has let a few things slip but nothing in too great of detail. Their dad, well, I think even the Devil was a little nervous of Will Dixon the day that man died. Have you seen Daryl without a shirt on yet?" She then asked.

Beth shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure he has the same back as Merle," Annie said. "Will Dixon was a terrible man. I have no idea how Merle and Daryl turned out like they did. They've had their issues but they've come out on the other side and are better men now."

Beth nodded this time, finding absolutely no argument but she felt herself almost shiver at the thought of Daryl's back and just what his dad had done to him. She certainly wasn't going to ask or rush him. Letting him see her without a shirt on had taken so much courage on her behalf. She understood if Daryl would never feel quite ready to show her himself without his shirt.

"Son of a bitch!" Merle suddenly shouted from outside.

"Well… kind of better men," Annie said and Beth laughed.

Daryl pulled open the screen door a second later and stepped inside. "Hey," he grunted to the two and then stepped past them, going into the bathroom, coming out a second later with a small first aid kit in his hand.

"What did he do this time?" Annie asked, not looking alarmed in the least.

"Here," Daryl thrust the kit into her hand without explaining. "Prob'ly would want you seein' to him more than me."

Annie looked to Beth and rolled her eyes and Beth laughed as Annie took the first-aid kit and went outside to see to her husband. Beth looked to Daryl and smiled and she bounced up on her toes, giving him a brief kiss. When she settled back on her feet, she saw that Daryl's lips were twitching in a smile.

"Do you want some lemonade?" She asked, picking up one of the glasses.

"You ain't gonna smack my hand away this time?" He asked.

She pulled the large pitcher from the refrigerator. "I only did that once and you were being bad. This lemonade is for this afternoon. And it's now the afternoon so now, you're allowed to have some."

Daryl smirked and she felt him watching her as she poured him a glass. He shook his head. "Don't know what the hell you've done to me, Greene," he then said.

"What do you mean?" She returned the pitcher to the refrigerator and then turned to the counter, resuming cutting up the strawberries for the fruit salad.

"Never had this many people here at once," he said.

That made her smile and she couldn't help but lean up and kiss his cheek this time. "We'll go back to being hermits tomorrow. I promise."

He smirked at that and she was pleasantly surprised when his hand rose to the back of her head and he leaned in, kissing her. She loved when Daryl kissed her first.

Her daddy had an old picnic table that he wasn't using and he gladly let Beth have it when she asked about it. She and Daryl had brought it back to the trailer and Daryl had given it a fresh stain of waterproof varnish. Today, Beth had covered it with a plastic tablecloth and had set out six settings and she and Annie were carrying food out from the trailer as the Sherriff's car pulled up. Beth smiled as she saw Rick step out and then his son, Carl, from the passenger side. She wondered where Lori was but she smiled brightly as Carl approached, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his jeans.

"Hi, Carl," she greeted. "I hope you're hungry. I probably made way too much food."

"Thank you, Beth," Rick said, coming up behind his son. "And he's thirteen. He's always hungry. Hope you don't mind me bringing him here instead."

"Of course not," Beth said honestly and she wanted to ask about Lori but she wasn't going to. She knew it wasn't any of her business unless Rick mentioned it first.

He didn't.

"Hey, Officer Friendly!" Merle came out of the trailer, his hand now wrapped in a white bandage and wide grin was spread across his face.

Rick rolled his eyes but he was smiling, too. "How's it going, Merle?" He asked.

He went to go meet him halfway and the two men shook hands, exchanging a few words, and Beth looked back to Carl.

"Did Judith stay home with your mom?" Beth asked.

"Yeah. We didn't know if you'd want a baby around," Carl said with a shrug.

"You could always bring her. I love babies," Beth smiled. "Can you help me with bringing out the rest of the food?" She asked.

"Sure," he shrugged again and headed towards the trailer.

Beth turned and saw that Daryl was there now, too, he and Rick standing a little bit away from everyone else, Rick talking to him in a whisper. Daryl was doing nothing but standing there and listening, his face seemingly completely blank as he did so.

She went inside where Annie stood at the refrigerator, handing Carl the big bowl of pasta salad to carry outside, and she then took the platter of potato salad for herself.

"So are you and Daryl going to have a baby?" Carl asked, looking to her, and Beth couldn't help but be taken aback, wondering where on earth that question had come from before she remembered her and her siblings at that particular age. They knew what was polite and what was not but they hadn't really cared and asked whatever they felt like.

Beth did her best to smile. "I'm not sure," she answered as vaguely as she could. That was definitely something she hadn't thought about. "I might not even be able to have children," she then heard herself add for some reason.

It was certainly something she didn't think about. Not at this point in her life. She was still too young and she was even still a virgin for goodness sakes. And she wanted to keep being with Daryl and maybe, someday, their relationship would progress in that direction but for now, there was no reason to think about it and worry. The doctors in the hospital and the clinic had gone over all of the lasting effects of her eating disorder with her. Some of it was a cause for concern and she had always wanted to be a mother but babies and whether or not she could have them wasn't the first forethought on her mind at the moment.

"Oh," Carl looked almost sad at that. "That sucks." He paused a beat and looked down to the salad before looking at her. "This looks really good, Beth," he said.

Beth smiled a little easier now. "I expect you to help me have as little leftovers as possible," she said.

"Yes, ma'm," he smiled at her and she laughed as he left the trailer again.

She looked to Annie and Annie was looking at her and Beth expected her to ask why she wouldn't be able to have children but Annie just gave her a small smile and followed Carl out without prying. And Beth released a relieved breath. She went to the crockpot on the small counter and turned the knob off before lifting the lid and picking up a spoon, stirring the shredded barbecue pork that had been cooking all day. Her stomach rumbled as the heavenly scent tickled her nose.

She had no idea how she had gotten Daryl to agree to this. He was a man who liked his privacy and solitude but she had always liked cooking for others and she wanted to repay Merle and Annie for all of those dinners they invited her and Daryl over for.

And she felt herself smiling to herself because she knew he had done this for her. He did so much for her – whether he realized it or not and more times than not, he didn't realize it. It was as if every day, he strived to make her happy and she just wanted to throw her arms around him all of the time and assure him that she had never been as happy as she was here with him.

She jumped when suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind and she heard a snickering in her ear. She elbowed Daryl in the stomach and then turned her head, looking back at him.

"Don't be mean to me," she gave him a small frown.

He smirked and shook his head, leaning his face in towards her. "'m not plannin' on it."

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**I am completely overwhelmed with the response you have been giving to this story - especially to the last chapter. Thank you so, so much and I feel like I can never thank you enough for your kind words and encouragement. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Six.**

"What'd you do? Rob a bookstore?"

Daryl's head jerked up and saw Rick standing there with a smile on his face as he looked down to the table and the stack of books next to Daryl's arm. Daryl slapped the paperback he was currently reading shut and slid it over to the side.

"Nah. Just went to the library," Daryl said. "Carol helped me find a few things and was readin' a little before you got here."

Rick slid into the seat across from him, tossing his Sherriff's hat down beside him and a waitress appeared with her pad and a tired smile.

"What can I get you boys?" She asked, pen poised and ready to write.

"Coffee for me," Rick smiled in return.

"Coke," Daryl grunted, only glancing up at her for a second before looking back to Rick. It was Jessie – Punky Bruiser from the roller derby – and she was always giving him these smiles that just made him want to shift and squirm. "You look like shit," he then commented to his friend.

Rick smirked and nodded in agreement, sinking into the booth's vinyl bench seat a little lower. "Didn't get much sleep last night. Kept waiting for my wife to get home."

Daryl raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything.

"We got into a fight. I accused her of some stuff. She screamed back and then stormed out. Probably went to her boyfriend's," Rick said and then rubbed a hand over his face. "When I told her that she was cheating on me, she didn't deny it."

Daryl wasn't too sure what to say to that. He had liked Lori from the moment Rick had started dating her. She had never looked down at him like he was trash or looking like she was wondering why Rick was hanging around with such a lowlife. She had immediately accepted that Daryl was Rick's best friend, practically his brother, and she had always been kind to him and never acted like she didn't want him around when he showed up at their house. She had even been the one to suggest that he be Judith's godfather when the baby was born.

But if Rick and Lori were to get a divorce, Daryl would side with Rick without question. It was just the way things went. When a couple split, the friends got split, too, and Daryl had been Rick's friend long before they even knew Lori existed.

"'m sorry, man," Daryl said, figuring he had to say something.

Rick shrugged, acting as if it wasn't bothering him, but Daryl knew him too well and could see the pain in his eyes that he was in. "Nothing lasts forever," he said.

Jessie returned with their drinks and took their lunch orders – cheeseburgers for both of them – before they were left alone again.

"What are you reading?" Rick asked, changing the subject, reaching over and taking one of the books from the stack. He only glanced at the title before looking up at Daryl again with a cocked eyebrow in a silent question.

Daryl shrugged. "Just want to understand it, I guess," he said.

"And you can't ask her?" Rick asked.

Daryl shook his head. No, he couldn't ask Beth. He knew she would probably tell him if he did but he didn't want her to have to think about it. She had to think about it every day – writing every morsel of food she put into her mouth down in her journal, keeping track so she could know she was getting enough throughout the day – and when she was him, he didn't want her to think about it. He just wanted her to be Beth. Pretty Beth with her soft smiles and happy laughter and her sweet songs. When she was with him, he didn't want her to have to think about scales or weight or how everyone either avoided her or treated her like she was some damn China doll, ready to break at any second.

But he did have questions. He couldn't help it. There was so much about her eating disorder that he just didn't get. It had given her a need to have everything neat and clean around her and she seemed to always be cold, even in ninety-degree heat, and he couldn't help it anymore. He was curious and he wanted to at least understand a little bit because to him, starving yourself and going hungry when you didn't have to was completely beyond his understanding. When he was a kid and had gone to bed at night with pains in his stomach so severe, he had almost wanted to cry, he would have given anything for the chance to eat three meals a day. When he was a kid – and still now, he guessed – food had been everything to him.

It was Monday and he had gone to the library, asking Carol for help on finding him some books to read, and he was already trying to figure out how to hide them from Beth in their tiny trailer. He didn't want her to know he was reading things like this in case she took it the wrong way and got hurt or insulted.

And now, just a couple of chapters into the first one, a part of him was regretting getting these books. Anorexia was a mental disease and as the author dove into the psychology behind one starving themselves, Daryl just thought of Beth, younger and being in the same mindset enough to do this to herself and he couldn't imagine the Beth he knew now doing this to herself. It just didn't add up in his head.

"Here we are, guys," Jessie announced, carrying there tray of food. "Rick. Cheeseburger. Nothing on it. Daryl, cheeseburger. Lettuce, tomato and pickle. No onion," she said as she set each plate down in front of them.

"Thanks, Jessie," Rick smiled at her and Jessie smiled in return before her eyes moved over to Daryl but he was pouring ketchup over his fries and not looking at her or even paying attention.

"Let me know if you guys need anything else," she said with one more smile before turning and walking away.

Rick smirked, looking to Daryl. "She knows you living with your girlfriend?"

Daryl shrugged, not even twitching at the use of the word girlfriend towards Beth. They hadn't talked about it but if she wasn't that then what the hell was she? She loved him and they lived together and he was pretty damn fond of her. They didn't have to have a conversation to decide they were in a relationship together. They already knew that. It was pretty damn obvious they were.

"Small town. 'm sure she knows," Daryl said, picking up the burger with both hands.

"Where is Beth today?" Rick asked.

"Went to the farm. Guess one of the sheep is ready to give birth and her popsand sister needed her help," Daryl answered before taking a large bite of the burger.

He looked to the stack of books for a moment. Just having them around, it made him uncomfortable but he didn't want to return them. He wanted to keep reading and learning because even after living with Beth for a couple of months, he still had no clue about any of this and unfortunately, it was a part of who Beth was and he wanted to know all there was to know about her. He knew, eventually, he would have to tell her some more things about himself but he wasn't ready for that yet and Beth wasn't pushing him to tell her anything. They were both moving at the same slow speed and he was relieved they were on the same page without a discussion.

He looked back to Rick. "So, what are you gonna do?" He asked. "'bout Lori?"

Rick sighed and avoided the question for a moment as he took a sip of his coffee. "Guess we could always go to therapy or something if we decide to work it out. I don't know if I want to work it out though. It's hard to imagine. Being inside of my wife when I know I haven't been the only man in there since our wedding."

Daryl inwardly cringed. He didn't really want to think about the inside of Lori. Ever.

He let out a grunt and took another bite of his burger. "You know who the guy is?"

Rick shook his head. "No. And I don't know if I really want to know either. Either I know the guy and I'd want to kill him or I don't know him and I'd still want to kill him." He dunked a French fry in some ketchup and brought it to his mouth. "So what are you and Beth going to do?" He asked with a sly grin.

"'bout what?" Daryl couldn't help but frown.

Rick snickered. "You making a commitment to her?"

"We live together and she knows I'm not doin' anythin' else with anyone else," Daryl kept frowning. "And I know she's not doin' anythin' either."

Rick's smile faded a little and he looked at Daryl with a serious stare. "That's good, Daryl. I'm happy for you. At least one of us isn't completely failing when it comes to women," he said.

"You didn' fail anythin'," Daryl said quietly. "It's Lori that's sleepin' around."

"Yeah…" Rick nodded his head slowly. "Courts usually give custody to the mom."

"So, you're filin'?" Daryl looked at him as Rick sighed heavily.

"I think so. I don't really want to work on something that's she already checked out of," he said and Daryl nodded, getting that. "I still love her though. That's what's really shitty about the whole thing. I still love her and she obviously doesn't love me." He smirked bitterly and shook his head at himself before taking another sip of coffee.

Daryl was quiet, taking another bite of burger. He had absolutely no idea what to say. Rick was his best friend and was always there to listen to Rick when he needed to talk but he never knew what to say in return. Especially about things like this. What the hell did he know about love and relationships? He was closer to forty than thirty and found himself with a woman in a relationship for the first time in his life. He had no idea what he was doing most days and had taken the habit of just following Beth's lead and picking things up from her.

Daryl took a sip of his Coke. "If you want, I can give Merle a call. We can go to a strip club or somethin'. Distract you for a while."

He had said it as a joke though he knew that even though Merle was married and happy with Annie, he took strip clubs very seriously and if one was mentioned, he never saw it as a joke. And he had been to his fair share of strip clubs in his life – always with Merle dragging him – but he hardly paid attention to any of the girls, usually just sitting at the bar and drinking as Merle nearly got them kicked out.

Rick snickered at that and even though he shook his head, he said, "Yeah. Sounds good," he said and Daryl gave a single head nod.

He may have been new to this whole relationship thing but he did know that if he was going to a strip club, he would definitely have to tell Beth.

…

He had stowed the books into the bag on the side of his bike for the time being and after going to the house and after Hershel telling him that Beth was in the barn, he headed in that direction. She was sitting in some hay, a newborn baby lamb in her arms, and she was holding a bottle of warm milk, letting the lamb suckle from it.

"Hey," Beth smiled at him as he approached but he noticed the sadness in her eyes.

"Wha's wrong?" He asked, lowering himself into the hay beside her.

"The mama rejected him for some reason," Beth said and looked down to the lamb, smiling faintly as she did so. "I told daddy I'll be the one to take care of him."

Daryl didn't know what to say so he just sat quietly and watched Beth as she fed the lamb, singing a soft song to the animal, something about never being able to take something away from a person. He didn't know. He hardly ever knew any of the songs she sang. He just knew that he really liked it when she sang. Beth Greene had the prettiest voice he had ever heard.

"If you want, I can build somethin' for 'im at the trailer," Daryl offered and Beth instantly stopped singing, her head whipping over to look at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "A pen or somethin'. Little shed for 'im to live in."

Beth looked at him for a moment and then she broke into the softest smile he had ever seen. "Just when I think I can't love you any more than I already do," she told him in a soft voice that made the tips of his ears turn red. She leaned in then and he met her lips halfway, the kiss soft and brief but it made his lips tingle as always.

She looked back down to the baby lamb and began singing again and Daryl couldn't help but stare at her, thinking of what he had read in the book that morning. Stuff about loss of bone mass and low white-blood cell counts that left her more open to infections and sickness than most people.

_But the most life-threatening damage is usually the havoc wreaked on the heart. As the body loses muscle mass, it loses heart muscle at a preferential rate - so the heart gets smaller and weaker._

He heard those words in his brain as he had read them and committed them to memory as soon as he did. He wished he had the ability to look into Beth's chest right now so he could see her heart; see that it was beating and it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. It had scared the shit out of him as soon as he had read that paragraph. Some singer, Karen Carpenter, had died because she had anorexia and her heart had grown too weak and had just stopped working.

Was that going to happen to Beth? Was he just going to wake up one day and look at her next to him and find out that her heart had stopped sometime during the night without him realizing that? One day, would she just die and there would be no way to stop it? He had gone so much of his life without her but now that she was here, he didn't know what he would do if she suddenly wasn't anymore.

"Hey," she suddenly nudged him gently with her elbow and looked at him with a smile. "You're frowning. What's wrong?"

"Nothin'." He automatically shook his head. "Jus' thinkin'. I've never had a pet before."

Beth smiled brightly at that. "I like how that sounds," she said and looked down to the lamb. "Our pet. Our little lamb," she said, laughter in her voice. "But that's not why you're frowning," she looked back to him and he wondered how she had gotten so damn good at reading him.

"No," he said but there was no way he was going to tell her what was actually on his mind. He might as well tell her what he had to. "Rick's thinkin' of gettin' a divorce," he said and Beth's eyes widened. "Lori's been sleepin' around. Rick doesn' think they have anything they can save."

"Oh my goodness," she said in a hushed tone. "I had no idea."

He shrugged. "Not like they're taking out an advertisement. I had lunch with him today. He made up his mind about it there. I told him me and Merle could take him to a strip club to get his mind off things. Seemed to like the sound of that."

He looked at Beth, studying her face, trying to figure out what she thought about that. She was looking at him and he swore that her eyes were actually twinkling.

"'m not gonna do anything… if you're worried about it," he said in a low voice.

She instantly shook her head. "I'd never worry about that. And I'm not worried about anything. I'm just trying to imagine you in a strip club," she said.

He felt his lips twitch a little and he shrugged. "Not my favorite place in the world."

"You're a good friend," she said.

"So are you sayin' I can go?" He asked.

"Don't do that," she said. "I don't want it to be like that between us. Thank you for telling me what you're doing but you don't have to ask for my permission."

"I don't?" He asked and he knew he sounded completely clueless but he couldn't help it. When it came to this – having a girlfriend – he was beyond clueless.

"Nope." Beth laughed a little. "You're a grown man and there's no reason why I shouldn't trust you. And if it really bothered me, I would just say fine and let you figure it out on your own. It's what girls do."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes, plucking a piece of hay. "Girls are nuts."

"Yeah." She laughed again. "But you love me anyway," she said and there was still a lightness in her voice, obviously having no idea what she had just said.

But Daryl knew. He caught it instantly and he looked at her, at her smile and her pretty twinkling eyes, and he felt nothing inside of him that screamed to argue.

She finished feeding the lamb and she gently pulled the bottle away, murmuring to the him that he was such a good lamb and she already loved him so much.

"Yeah," he heard himself murmuring in agreement.

This whole time, he had thought that he didn't love her; that he didn't even know how to love but he looked at her and realized he had never felt anything before like what he felt for her and maybe that was love. Maybe he was in love with Beth Greene and maybe he had been in love with her this whole time.

…

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**Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**This story is going to have around thirty chapter. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Seven.**

She missed Maggie.

She had two journals – one to keep track of her eating and the other where she wrote about her days – and every night, as she laid in the bed and wrote in each journal, she read back over her words and realized that she hadn't written Maggie's name in weeks. She went to the farm nearly every other day to see daddy and she and Maggie would see one another but they really didn't speak to one another. Maggie was angry at her for living with Daryl and Beth didn't really know what to say to her anymore because anything she said just was never good enough.

But she really missed Maggie. She couldn't help it. She had always looked to her older sister as her best friend and she didn't know anything happening in Maggie's life anymore. Daddy had mentioned that she had been dating someone for a few weeks now – and for Maggie, a few weeks was already a record – but Beth didn't ask about it because she didn't even know how to talk to Maggie anymore. Would it ever be as it once was? Probably not. Because even if Maggie was to ever accept the fact that Beth _was_ getting better, she would probably forever treat her like glass. And Beth just couldn't breathe around that.

With Daryl out with his brother and Rick, she had the trailer to herself for the night. She changed into her pajamas – which somewhere along the way had become a pair of underwear and one of Daryl's flannel shirts. She had taken one down from the closet one particularly chilly night and had slid it on and when Daryl had seen her in it, he hadn't said anything. He had just swallowed and she could see the tips of his ears turning red. That was one thing with Daryl that she loved. He didn't only make her feel beautiful but he made her feel desirable, too.

She fixed herself a can of chicken noodle soup and once she ate and washed all of her dishes, setting them in the rack on the counter to dry, she then went to her keyboard in the living room. Space in the trailer was tight but they had done some arranging and the keyboard now rested against the wall of the front of the trailer and Daryl had found her a stool at a used furniture store. She sat on that stool now and turning the switch on, she looked at the sheets in front of her.

She was trying to write her own songs again. She hadn't done that in so long, not being in the right mindset at all to do that, but she was beginning to feel that familiar flow of energy humming through her brain to the tips of her fingers. She definitely felt a bit rusty doing this again after going such a long time without but she was just happy to even have the inclination to try again.

She hummed to herself as she played a few bars and then stopped to write those notes down with her pencil before play them again, adding a few more. Father Gabriel had asked her that Sunday after service if she was willing to join the church choir again and Beth had hesitated before telling him that she would think about. She had always loved to sing and perform and she had loved being in the choir but she didn't know if she was ready to put herself back up there again. She wouldn't be alone but she didn't know if she would be comfortable standing in front of the congregation, having them all looking at her. They looked enough when she was just sitting in a pew with her daddy and brother.

Around eight-thirty, she turned the keyboard off and made sure the front door was locked and left a lamp on for Daryl before heading into the bedroom. She grabbed her journals and propped the pillows up, slipping between the cool sheets and leaning back, resting her journals on her thighs. She first wrote down what she had for dinner. One can of chicken noodle soup and one glass of water. It wouldn't look like a lot to another person but to her, it was the perfect amount. Her stomach was still small and she was feeding it the right amount to fill it up.

She set that journal aside and then opened her other one, beginning to write about her day. About work being a usual day except Dale had bought pizza for everyone for lunch and they had all sat around the office, eating and Axel telling stories and getting Zach to laugh so hard, soda flew from his nose. Meyer had come back, too, meowing at the back door and she watched as Daryl gave him a piece of pizza crust. After work, she went to the farm for a little bit to visit her family and to see the lamb. She still hadn't named him but she had told daddy that she and Daryl would be taking him home once he was old enough and Hershel had beamed at that.

Hershel liked Daryl. He had said it but even if he hadn't, it would be pretty obvious. He thought Daryl Dixon was a good man and he was. He was the _best_ man and she tried to remember things before him. She was happy to be alive, to be with her family and to have a good job working for a nice man but she didn't feel that happiness that she thought people should feel with their lives. She didn't know if she would ever feel that. She had just kind of been going along from day to day, trying to get herself better, trying to make everyone around her happy and show them that they had no reasons to worry about her.

She had thought that this was how it would be for the rest of her life. She was resigned to that, thinking that maybe she deserved it. But then she met Daryl. She had already met Daryl but then they began talking and it was as if she was finally meeting him. And he was wonderful. She knew not everyone saw it because he was so quiet and preferred to stick to himself but he was kind and funnier than one would expect and willing to do anything for someone he cared about.

She just thought about all of the things he had done for her whether he realized he was doing them or not and it was no mystery as to why she had fallen in love with him. Even thinking about him now as she wrote, a small smile bloomed across her face and she felt like giggling like some silly girl with her first crush.

And then, just like that, she was missing Maggie again because she didn't have her older sister anymore to talk about and giggle with and confide in as they talked about things like this.

She heard the familiar roar of a nearing motorcycle and her eyes went to the clock beside the bed. It was just a few minutes past nine. She hadn't been expecting him back for at least a couple of more hours and she wondered if the strip club had been a bust that evening. He had been surprised but she hadn't really minded when he told her where he was going. Did she like the idea of strip clubs? No. She didn't like the idea of women having to take their clothes off for money for a bunch of hooting and hollering men though she did hear that strippers made great money. But she knew that she was in a relationship with a man who didn't hoot and holler and he was only going in support of his best friend – as odd as that support might seem.

The motorcycle engine cut off and then moments later, she heard his steps on the porch and the front door was being unlocked. Beth didn't know what it was but suddenly, she felt a shiver tingle throughout her body in anticipation of seeing him.

She pushed back the covers and slipped her journals into the top drawer of the nightstand before standing up from the bed. She was stepping out of the bedroom just as Daryl was stepping in and she laughed a little as their chests collided.

She tilted her head up to look at him. "Hi," she smiled, feeling breathless.

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards into his usual smile. "Hey," he greeted back and she didn't think about it before pushing herself up on her toes and pressing her lips to his. She felt him lift his hands and then felt them on the sides of her head as he kissed her back, pressing just a little harder.

She wanted to ask what he was doing back so soon but it wasn't as if she cared. She was just happy he was back because suddenly, the shivers were becoming more intense and she stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

This was happening more and more. It seemed like every time they kissed now, the possibility of it leading to so much more was always looming, just waiting for them to take that final step together and Beth was beginning to wonder why they didn't.

"Daryl," she heard herself whimper his name then and he began to gently push her backwards towards the bed, his mouth never leaving hers.

As soon as she hit the bed against her knees, she pulled him with her and she laid down, feeling the weight of him on top of her. She had never felt as warm as she did when Daryl was over her. Their mouths moved together, lips parting, opening, slanting against one another, and then she moaned softly as his tongue swirled around hers. She lifted her hands to his hair, tunneling through the strands, gripping, holding it back from his face and she felt his fingers at the buttons of the shirt, undoing each one. He then parted the shirt open and she arched her back slightly, whimpering again, as Daryl swept his hands up her bare chest, fingers finding her nipples, them instantly hardening from his touch.

She was beginning to feel that ache that she was feeling all of the time now when they kissed like this and tonight, she was ready for that ache to be seen to.

"Daryl," she said his name in such a way that he lifted his head from hers and looked down at her, both of them breathing heavily.

Her heart was drumming so quickly in her chest and she couldn't believe that this was happening but she wanted this to happen more than anything. She looked up at him and without a word, her hands slipped down to the button on his jeans.

"Beth…" he began to say but whatever the next words were, they seemed to die in his throat as her fingers popped open the button and then she slowly lowered the zipper. She slid her thigh against his hip and her eyes never left his. "We don't have to do anythin'," he said. "I'm not gonna pressure-"

"You're not," Beth was quick to interrupt. "I love you. I want you. Didn't you think that this would happen?"

Daryl just stared at her, his eyes dark, and she wondered what he was thinking. She didn't doubt or wonder if he wanted her. She knew he did. She saw the way he looked at her and she could feel the bulge in his jeans. She knew he wanted her and she was not going to let him stop this from happening tonight. She was ready. She wanted this. She wanted _him_. She couldn't imagine having anyone else as her first.

Daryl stood up then and she watched as he went to the dresser, opening the top drawer. She saw him hesitate for only a moment before he pulled something out and when he turned towards the bed again, she saw that he was holding a condom. She didn't anything. She just smiled and sat up, pulling the shirt off and dropping it onto the floor. She laid down again and tried to get her heart beating normal. He had seen her in various stages of undress. He had seen her body and there were no surprises. There was no reason to be nervous. This was Daryl. She loved him and she knew that he cared for her and she wanted him to see her. It was important that he saw all of her.

He still didn't say anything as he took of his boots that she hadn't realized he was still wearing followed by his socks and then he pushed his jeans down past his hips. She saw the bulge in his boxers and she couldn't help but smile, feeling shy but feeling so excited, and her hands went to the waistband of her underwear.

"Wait," he grunted, stopping her, and she did immediately.

He came back onto the bed, crawling over her, and she sank boneless into the mattress as he covered her mouth with his again. She felt his hands at her underwear and she lifted her hips so he could pull the pair down her thighs. She shivered again, realizing that she was completely naked, lying beneath Daryl but it wasn't a cold shiver. It was a shiver of excitement and her fingers ran through his hair again and then over his shoulders and down his back as they began kissing one another a little harder. He didn't take off his tee-shirt and she didn't ask him, too. He wasn't ready to show her without a shirt on yet and that was okay. He would show her one day, she knew.

She gasped and whimpered his name into his mouth as she felt his fingers rubbing her between her thighs and then two fingers were plunging inside of her. He had done this for her enough times for her to be used to it now but she still squirmed and moaned and clenched around him. It was his turn to moan when she did that. The heel of his hand made contact with her clit again and again and his fingers moved a bit faster and she pulled her mouth from his, letting out some sort of whine as she felt sweat break across her skin. She began trembling and then she came with a sharp cry of his name and her entire body tensed before every nerve exploded.

She felt him moving but she was panting, still coming down, and when she opened her eyes, he was over her, looking into her eyes.

"Wanna keep going?" He asked her in a quiet tone and she didn't even hesitate in giving him a smile and nod of her head.

She felt him then. He must have taken his boxers off and rolled the condom on when she was still recovering and he was nudging against her folds now. She didn't want to see it. Instead, she stared into his eyes and instinctively spread her thighs a little wider. She was scared and nervous – she wasn't going to deny that – but she was ready for this to happen. She had never felt as ready as she did right now. With him.

Daryl stared into her eyes as one of his hands reached down between their bodies and he never looked away from her as he began pressing himself forward. Beth kept herself staring up into his eyes, her hands clutching his biceps, and she reminded herself to keep breathing. She winced. She couldn't help it. This was bigger than his fingers. He was thick and she felt herself stretching around the foreign intrusion.

He stopped himself after a few eternal minutes and she noticed he was shaking.

"Just a lil' bit more," he whispered to her then, his breathing sharp.

She nodded and did her best to smile though there was a lot of pain down there and her nails dug into his skin when he suddenly snapped his hips forward. She cried out when she felt a searing pain and tears flooded her eyes before she could stop them. Daryl froze completely on top of her and she felt her heart pounding in her ears. Daryl Dixon was actually inside of her. She was no longer a virgin – just like that. She was lying in bed and having sex with Daryl Dixon. Was the pain ever going to stop?

She took a series of deep breaths and tried to get herself under control.

"'m sorry," Daryl said but she quickly shook her head, looking up at him, finally able to give him a small smile.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You're a shitty liar," he said and she actually laughed breathlessly at that.

"I mean it. I'm fine. I… it was something I had to go through," she said and his eyes were locked with hers. He hadn't looked away from her once. "I'm glad it was you," she then whispered to him with a soft smile.

Daryl looked at her for one more moment before sinking his weight down on top of her, his mouth falling onto hers and she readily welcomed his kiss. Her fingers went back to his hair and she began to feel him move. It still hurt but not as before. Just a dull ache. It seemed as if her body was getting used to it and as she laid there beneath him, kissing him, feeling his length move back and forth inside of her, she knew that it was only a matter of time before this felt good for her, too. For right now, it felt strange, knowing he was inside of her, feeling a pressure that made her feel short of breath in her lungs.

She wasn't sure how long he moved and she knew she wasn't going to come again but she kissed him and just as he neared the end, she began to feel the faintest tingles again between her thighs. He came with a groan, his face pressing to the side of her neck, and he shook on top of her before going still, his body heavy on hers.

His tee-shirt was damp with sweat and her body ached but oddly enough, she realized that it was aching in some sort of way that didn't bring her pain. She turned her head and her lips brushed across the shell of his ear.

"I love you, Daryl Dixon," she whispered to him.

She closed her eyes and smiled faintly and dipped her head down, nuzzling her nose gently against his cheekbone.

"I love you, too," he murmured into her skin.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Thank you very much for your continued support of this story. This has been the most difficult Daryl x Beth story I have written so far and your love and support of it has meant so much to me and I can't thank you enough. Just a couple of chapters to go after this one. **

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**Chapter Twenty-Eight.**

He couldn't stop watching her. Even with his head under the hood of a car, he kept lifting his eyes and looking at her through the windows of the office. She sat behind her desk, the phone to her ear, her fingers typing on the computer's keyboard, and she was smiling as she carried on a conversation with the person on the other end.

She looked so damn beautiful that day. She practically looked as if she was glowing and he wondered if it had anything to do with what they had done the night before.

He had _never_ been expecting that. He had gone out with Rick and Merle as planned but Rick had had second doubts about going to a strip club, which didn't surprise Daryl in the least. It had surprised him when he had actually considered going in the first place but he knew Rick and Rick still loved his wife and he didn't even really have proof that Lori was cheating. Just inclinations and Rick didn't want to go to a strip club when he didn't even know for certain about his wife's own infidelity.

So they had gone to Joe's for a few beers and Merle, for once, sat there and actually tried to offer Rick advice as to what to do that didn't include doing some cheating of his own to get back at Lori. Daryl had sat there and looked at Merle and wondered when the hell he had changed so much. He knew he had – from his time in prison and then falling in love with Annie and marrying her – but he guess he had never realized just how much Merle Dixon was no longer like the guy he used to be. He was still brash and rude as hell but he was also now the guy who gave pretty good advice to those around him and it was advice that people actually listened to and took in account.

After a couple of bottles, Daryl headed home and when he came inside, he looked at the fresh flowers on the table and smelled buttercream in the air and saw the soft light of the lamp she had left on for him spilling around the trailer in a warm glow and it felt like home. And then Beth stood there, in his flannel shirt with her hair spilling down around her shoulders and his tongue had suddenly felt too big for his mouth. He wondered – not for the first time – what the hell this girl was doing here with him but he couldn't get the words out and he knew it was probably just one of those things that he would never understand. And he would have to be okay with that. Being with Beth, being in love with Beth, was just one of those things he would have to accept as it being a part of his life now.

And then they were lying on the bed and he was rolling on a condom and he was pushing himself between Beth's thighs, entering her, unable to stop himself from groaning at how tight and wet and warm she was. She was the best thing he had ever felt and if it was possible, he never wanted to come out again.

_I love you, too_.

He had told her the words because he saw no reason to keep them to himself anymore and when he looked to her face again, her smile was soft but bright and her eyes were glistening with tears. He had never said those words to another person before but with Beth, there was no fear or second-guessing.

Being in love with Beth, it just made sense.

They had fallen asleep a little while later and the next morning, it was their usual routine – showers and breakfast and Beth's arms around his waist as he drove them on his motorcycle to the shop for work. And now, he couldn't stop watching her. He loved Beth Greene and he had had sex with Beth Greene and for the first time in a long time – maybe the first time in his entire life – he felt pretty damn happy.

Things between them were as if nothing was different and he supposed they weren't. As Beth had said, what had happened was bound to happen eventually and it had changed everything but at the same time, hadn't changed a thing.

After work, he cleaned his bay as he did every other night and then went into the office, sinking himself down into one of the chairs as Beth stood at one of the filing cabinets, putting folders away into their proper place. She gave him a small smile but didn't say anything as she turned her head and continued with her filing.

"I still have to take you out on our first date," he said rather suddenly.

She laughed softly. "I would think we were way past the first date stage."

"Nah," he shook his head and smirked a little. "I promised I would take you out and I don't break promises I make to people. Especially one I make to you."

She smiled at that and blushed a little and then laughed lightly again, closing the drawer of the filing cabinet. "I thought we already had our first date a long time ago," she said as she came to her chair and slid her cardigan back on.

"What would that of been?" He asked, standing up, watching as she turned the computer and the desk lamp off and then grabbed her bag, sliding it on over her head so the strap crossed her chest.

Beth was still smiling as they left the garage and she closed and locked the front office door behind them. "When you took me for a ride on your motorcycle and we bought food at the gas station and ate down by Yellow Jacket Creek."

Daryl couldn't help but frown at her. "That ain't a date, Beth. That was just me wantin' to spend more time with you."

She reached over and slipped her hand into his, twining their fingers together as they walked across the parking lot to where his bike was parked. "Isn't that what a date usually is?" She asked him.

He frowned a little. "We didn' even wear somethin' nice. Aren't you supposed to wear somethin' nice on a date?" He really had no idea because he could count the amount of times he had gone on a date with a woman. Zero. Beth would be the first and he wanted to make sure that he got this right because this was Beth and he was going to give her the kind of first date that girls wanted.

Beth just smiled though and stood up on her toes, leaning into him, brushing her lips along his jaw and damn near making him shiver. "I like your flannel shirts," she whispered and then stepped back down, looking up at him with those big eyes of hers and making him want to do all sorts of things to her right then and there.

But they were standing in the middle of the garage's parking lot in the middle of town and there was no way he could do anything except kiss her. So that's what he did. He reached out and slid a hand onto her cheek and her lips curved into a smile as he lowered his own lips to hers. He kissed her softer than he thought he would have and he felt Beth's hands lightly slide up his chest. He moved his mouth against hers slowly, drinking her in, getting drunk and high off of her all at the same time and he swore that he could feel his head spinning.

He really hated that they had to go to Merle and Annie's for dinner that night because right now, all he wanted to do was go home with Beth and make her second time better than her first.

Beth was the one to pull her lips back and she looked up at him with the twinkling in her eyes and the faint smile across her face. "We can't be late," she said.

"Merle's never been known to be exactly punctual," he said but he climbed onto his bike nonetheless and Beth smiled as she slid on behind him, adjusting herself and her arms around his waist. He felt her lips brush against his shoulder blade and again, he felt like this girl was making him want to shiver again.

At his brother's house, Annie hugged Daryl and Beth as always and then taking Beth's hand, she pulled her right into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder to Daryl that Merle was in the backyard.

"Son of a bitch," Merle was swearing as Daryl stepped through the sliding door onto the small back concrete patio. He looked at Daryl with a deep frown. "Annie told me that it'd be a good investment. Piece of shit is what it is," he said and with that, he gave the gas grill a swift kick with his foot.

Without a word, Daryl moved past him and went to the fire sand pit that Merle had set up in the backyard, surrounded with bricks. Merle followed him and the two brothers had a fire roaring in no time.

Both turned their heads when they saw Annie coming out and then Beth, Annie carrying a tray of meat and she rolled her eyes when she saw that the grill had been abandoned in favor of the fire pit. She looked back to Beth.

"Get used to this," Annie told her. "Dixon men do not believe in doing the easy thing."

"Nah. We just don't believe in relying on pieces of shit when we know a better way to get things done," Merle corrected her, taking the tray of rabbit they would be cooking that night. "'sides, rabbit's better over an open fire."

Beth smiled, coming up to Daryl as he stood up, and handed him a can of Coke. She knew that he didn't like to drink when he was driving her around on his bike and he smiled his thanks to her, liking that she knew that about him. He wondered how she had already become the one person in this whole world who knew him better than anyone else. Better than Rick. Better than Merle. It didn't make any sense because what was it about her that had been able to scale the walls he usually kept around himself? But he just knew that if it was anyone who was able to slip in, he was glad it was her.

Annie cleared her throat. "So, there is a reason why Merle and me wanted you two to come over for dinner tonight."

"Yeah," Merle nodded, stabbing the pieces of rabbit onto the spit. "We got tickets for the roller derby again at the end of the month. You two wanna come?"

"Oh, yes!" Beth exclaimed a little. "I loved it so much last time. Thank you!"

Annie slapped her husband in the stomach. "That is not why we invited you two over tonight." She took another deep breath. "We're going to have a baby."

"Oh my gosh!" Beth exclaimed again and threw her arms around Annie's shoulders, both women laughing and hugging and crying and Daryl didn't understand how women could do all of that at the same time.

Daryl looked at his older brother and Merle was smiling in that way that he did – smiling like nothing bothered him – but Daryl knew he was probably freaking out. And Daryl didn't exactly blame him for that.

"Congratulations," Daryl said, knowing that Dixon men didn't hug but he slapped a hand onto Merle's shoulder. He then smirked a little. "Can't really believe it."

"Me, neither. But Annie swears it's mine," Merle smirked, looking to Daryl. "Thanks."

Daryl looked at him for a long moment. Merle Dixon was married and was going to have a baby; was going to be a daddy. It was unbelievable to say the least and he remembered a conversation him and Merle had had years ago about how the Dixon line should just die with them. No one needed or wanted another Dixon in the world. And though they hadn't said it, Daryl knew that deep down, both men were wondering if they would be no better than their old man when it came to children.

But Daryl knew that this next Dixon would never go through what he and Merle had gone through. Merle would be a good dad. Maybe even a great dad. Merle had changed so much in his life, Daryl knew that he could have a child with no problem.

He didn't say any of this though. It was way too many words for him and Merle would probably just scoff and call him a pussy anyway and he wouldn't want to hear Daryl saying things like that to him. That's not what Dixons did.

So instead, Daryl clapped a hand on Merle's shoulder again and Merle seemed to know what he was thinking but would never say. He just gave a head nod and a smile and Daryl smiled a little, too.

…

There wasn't anything in this world right now that would get Daryl to take his lips off of her. She was lying naked on the bed – _their_ bed – and she was moaning softly and panting heavily and she tasted so damn good, he felt like he could hardly stand it. She breathed his name and rubbed her hips against his face and he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent, knowing he had never smelt anything in this world that crashed into his brain like this and made him feel like he was falling even with feeling his knees firm on the ground.

She came loudly with an "Oh my god!" and her fingers tightened in his hair and pulled hard but Daryl didn't lift his head as he licked her up, nearly groaning at how damn good she tasted. He might just find himself doing this to her every night from now on, having loved it as much as she obviously did.

He finally lifted his head and looked up her body, seeing her lying there as if she was boneless, and her chest was heaving up and down.

"Wow," she breathed out on an exhale of air and Daryl found himself smiling a little. She rested a hand over her heart. "I've never felt my heart beat this fast."

And that one comment made his smile vanish just as quickly as it had formed. He swiftly cursed himself as he pulled himself onto the bed, coming up beside her with a furrow in his brow, lying on his side.

"You a'right?" He asked, looking at her.

She opened her eyes and he looked at her flushed face and her slight smile but all he could see where her lips parted and her breath heavy. That was it. He couldn't do this to her again. Her heart was weak and he was not looking to give her an actual heart attack while they did things like this together. Maybe they should do things like this anymore. They had done it once and maybe that would be enough times.

She nodded. "I'm fine," she said but she was still panting and her hand was still over her heart and he couldn't call himself an idiot enough times. "That was amazing."

Daryl let out a grunt but didn't say anything, still staring at her closely. And he didn't know what she saw on his face but whatever it was, it made her smile fade slowly.

"What's wrong?" She asked him in a quiet voice and her breathing started to sound a bit more normal.

He shook his head as if he wasn't going to answer but he did nonetheless. "I've been readin'," he admitted to her. "I got a few books out from the library… I just wanted to understand more," he said and found himself having a hell of time meeting her eyes as he said that to her, unsure of what her reaction to that would be.

She was quiet for only a moment but it might as well have been for an hour as Daryl imagined her getting up and getting dressed and walking out. She didn't though. Beth remained lying there and her hand slowly lifted from her chest, going to his cheek, her thumb brushing back and forth along his chin.

"You can ask me, Daryl," she said. "Anything you want."

Daryl looked at her for a moment as if trying to decide if she was tricking him or not but she just kept looking up at him, waiting, and he exhaled a soft breath.

"Your heart," he said but he didn't know how to form the rest of the question and thankfully, Beth didn't seem to need him to.

"It's weak," she said with a slight nod. "But each day, it's getting stronger. It won't ever be as strong as it was. As strong as it's _supposed_ to be but it's okay."

She took his hand then and pulled it to her chest, resting it over her heart, and his fingers twitched against her skin as he could feel the heart beat beneath his palm. They were both quiet, Beth looking at him and him looking down at his hand and he couldn't help but begin to count the beats.

"Still beating," Beth said. His eyes moved to her face. "And it's not going to stop beating for a long time. I promise."

"Can't promise that," Daryl shook his head.

"No, that's true," she agreed. "But it's not going to stop beating because I'm not eating enough." Daryl exhaled a breath at that he hadn't realized he was holding. She lifted her head back to his head, brushing some of his hair back. "Have you really been reading?" She asked and he nodded, keeping his eyes on hers.

"Yeah…" he answered slowly. "Wasn' sure how you would react though so I've been hidin' the books from you."

"You don't have to hide anything from me, Daryl," Beth said.

And he knew that she was talking about the books but he stared at her and suddenly, he felt like maybe her words were talking about so many other things. And why did he have to hide things from her? They lived together, were almost always together. He was in love with her and had sex with her and… he _loved_ her.

He kept his eyes locked with her for another moment more before he sat up then.

"Daryl-" she began to say his name when she saw what he was doing but he ignored her and tugged his tee-shirt off over his head, leaving him bare from the waist up.

He tossed the shirt towards the floor and then laid down beside her on his side again. She looked at him and he wondered if she would say anything but she didn't and he was grateful. He didn't want to talk about it. The scars on his back, it had all happened so long ago but they were still a part of who he was and there was no escaping it. And he didn't want to escape it because those scars were one of the reasons why he was here, right now, with Beth. He had gone through a lot of shit to have this life for himself and have this girl in this life with him.

But he didn't explain all of that to her and Beth didn't say a word about the back she still couldn't see but if she wanted to sit up and look, he would sit there and let her.

Beth remained lying down and she lifted both hands now, framing his face. "I love you," she said in a whisper, gently pulling him closer to her.

"I love you, too," he responded instantly and naturally and he brushed his lips against hers.

"Thank you for trusting me," she whispered, breathing against his mouth.

He shifted over her, his hand running down her side, his eyes never leaving hers. "I don't wanna hide anythin' from you."

And she smiled at that and he then lowered his lips to hers, slanting his mouth, kissing her deeply, and he felt Beth's hands move slowly around to his back, her fingers making first contact with the strips of scars that covered the skin there. She didn't yank away as she felt them and he didn't even flinch.

He had never had such a gentle touch on any of his scars before and he couldn't stop himself from sinking completely down on top of her as if he was melting.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter thirty will be an epilogue of sorts.**

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…

**Chapter Twenty-Nine.**

"Daryl's almost done with his pen and when he is, this little guy should be ready to go to his new home," Beth said as she watched as the lamb walk ahead of her through the grass. It was like having a dog – the lamb looking back every few steps to make sure that Beth was still following him and he would come back when she called out for him if he got too far ahead of her.

Hershel walked beside her. He had recently gotten a new prosthetic leg from the doctor and he was walking as much as he could, trying to get himself adjusted to it as quickly as he could. Shawn was getting himself ready to move back to Savannah – Hershel proving to all of them that he didn't need his children to take care of him and he told them that they had their own lives to see to and it was time they got back to living them.

Maggie was still seeing that boy and Hershel had mentioned to Beth that Maggie was thinking about moving to Atlanta to be closer to him, where he was a college student. Beth couldn't help but be surprised at that – not only that she was still seeing the same boy but also that she was wanting to move closer to continue seeing him – but she didn't ask anything about it. She didn't really think she had any right to. She was out of Maggie's life just as Maggie was out of hers.

As for her, just a few months earlier, she would have loved to return to Atlanta and being Rosita's roommate but now, so much had changed and she now had no desire to leave. Daddy was here and her job was here and _Daryl_ was here and she was never going to want to leave. She had made a life for herself here. This was home.

Hershel looked to Beth and gave her a smile.

"It'll be good for you and Daryl to have an animal to take care of together. Might be good practice for any other little living thing that may come along."

"Daddy," Beth sighed softly and she watched the lamb trot a couple of steps ahead, almost tripping over his still slightly clumsy legs. "You know that probably will never happen," she said.

"You don't know that, Bethy," Hershel responded. "You're getting stronger and miracles happen every day."

Beth just shook her head. "I think you're getting way too ahead of yourself right now." She looked to him and he was still smiling despite the heavy turn of the conversation and Beth couldn't help but feel her own little smile begin to form. "Daryl and I aren't looking to have babies. We're not even talking about marriage. Right now, we're just… us and that's all we want right now. And don't go talking to him about marriage and babies neither."

Hershel just kept on smiling.

She was telling the truth. She wasn't thinking about babies with Daryl or marrying Daryl. Right now, it was just them in this relationship of theirs and she had never been happier. She didn't need anything more than what she had with him right now. She had learned to think things one day at a time and that was what she was going to do with this relationship and Daryl. One day at a time. They were here and together and that was all that mattered to her.

And if the day came where Daryl wanted children and she couldn't have any, they would cross that bridge when it came time to.

"What are you going to name him?" Hershel asked, switching the topic.

"I have no idea. I've been trying to think of one but I was thinking Harvey for some reason," she said and then laughed a little. "I've never been good at picking names."

"I think Harvey is a fine name," Hershel said with a chuckle.

"Harvey," she tried out on her tongue. "Harvey!" She called out then and the lamb actually turned towards her as if he knew, all along, that that was his name. She smiled brightly and clapped her hands once. "Let's start heading back," she said as if he understood every word that she was saying.

The lamb let out a quiet "bah" and turned, heading back towards her. They began heading back across the field towards the barn and both Beth and Hershel looked when they heard a car approaching. Beth lifted her hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun overhead to see if she could make out who it was.

"It's Daryl," she said as she saw his pickup truck near the house, the tires kicking up dirt from the road behind it. Instead of the barn, she headed towards the truck and Harvey followed behind. She wondered if she should get him a bell for his neck.

Daryl parked the truck in front of the house and stepped out, turning his head and smiling when he saw her. Beth swore she felt a skip in her step as she came to him and bounced up on her toes, smacking her lips to his in a quick kiss.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile. "I didn't know you were coming here."

"Your pops called," Daryl said and his eyes slid past her to look behind her and she turned her head, smiling as she saw Harvey standing there. Daryl formed a small smirk. "You tell him he's goin' home soon?" He asked, looking back to her.

"Yep," she smiled. "As soon as the pen's done."

"By this weekend, I figure," Daryl said and she smiled as she felt his hand lightly slide onto her hip and she shuffled a step closer to him.

She hadn't thought it possible but something even more had shifted between them – ever since the night where he had taken off his shirt. He didn't talk about it and she didn't ask questions. She supposed the many scars upon his back were all self-explanatory and she would never ask him to talk about them just as he didn't ask her about her starving herself. They both knew that if the other ever wanted to talk about it, the other would always be there to listen.

And with that shared knowledge between them, they had grown even closer. There were so many touches now, light and fleeting but always there. His hand brushing across her back as she was at one of the filing cabinets and he came into the office to use the bathroom. Her fingers brushing along his hand as she passed him in the kitchen in the morning as they went about their usual routine. It was as if now, there always needed to be some form of contact between them and Beth only felt her happiness grow with each passing day that she had with him.

"His name's Harvey," Beth informed him with a smile.

Daryl smirked again. "Harvey, huh? It ain't the worst name I've ever heard."

She began to laugh. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"Thanks for coming, Daryl," Hershel approached the couple, a smile on his face and a visible twinkle in his eye. "Was needing your help with the generator in the back. Neither me or Otis can make heads or tails out of what the problem is."

"Yes, sir," Daryl nodded and broke away from Beth to collect his toolbox from the back truck bed.

Hershel gave him a stern look. "What have I told you about calling me that?"

"You talk to Annie?" He asked Beth as they all began walking towards the generator in the back shed at the back of the house, Harvey now walking right behind Daryl.

"No. Why? Is there something wrong?" Beth felt a panic begin to rise in her stomach.

"Nah," Daryl shook his head. "Merle called and told me she's lost her damn mind. She's been craving strawberry jam but she threw the jar when Merle bought the wrong one," he said.

And she didn't mean to but envisioning a jar of strawberry jam being thrown at him was too funny to not laugh and she did before she could stop herself, bringing her hand to cover her mouth.

"That's terrible," Beth managed to say.

"Kind of loses the effect when you're laughin' while tryin' to say that," Daryl teased.

"I might have a jar downstairs in the cellar left over from canning. I'll go look," she offered and then with that, she stood on her toes and leaned into him, giving him a kiss on the cheek before turning towards the house.

She looked back and saw that Harvey was staying with Daryl and daddy and she couldn't help but smile, liking the idea of the lamb being attached to both of them.

Coming through the back door, she saw that Maggie was in the kitchen and Beth couldn't help but feel a tension in her back immediately upon being in her presence. She hated this. Absolutely hated this. But she didn't know how to fix this because they were at a standstill. Beth could only say so many times that she was getting better and Maggie could only so many times refuse to believe her.

Maggie was digging around for something in the pantry and she lifted her head when she heard the screen door, turning to see Beth standing there. The two sisters looked at one another without speaking for a few moments.

"Do you mind if I take these?" Maggie asked, lifting a box of four mason jars.

"Of course not," Beth shook her head, both surprised and nervous with Maggie actually talking to her. "I have plenty downstairs," she said. She swallowed the thickness in her throat. "Are you going to be doing canning in Atlanta?"

"No," Maggie shook her head. "That was always more your thing. Glenn has absolutely no glassware in his place that isn't made out of plastic. I figured I could bring these and use these for drinks."

Beth gave a small smile. "Glenn," she then said, recognizing the name immediately. "From Rhee Pizza."

"Yeah," Maggie nodded and then looked embarrassed almost for some reason. "He's not really my usual type but there's something about him…"

Beth laughed a little. "I know what you mean. I don't think Jimmy and Daryl could be more different from one another." Her laughter faded and she looked down to the floor. She wasn't sure if that was the thing to say or not. She and Maggie were talking, yes, but maybe this was a conversation that wasn't time to take place yet.

Maggie set the box down on the middle kitchen island and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "He really cares about you," she then said. "It's obvious to everyone."

"He does," Beth nodded. "He loves me. And I love him."

Maggie looked at her and then slowly nodded her head. "Good. I'm… I'm really happy for you, Bethy."

"Are you?" Beth dared herself to ask, studying her sister closely.

"I am," Maggie immediately nodded her head and she sounded sincere. Beth had always been able to tell when Maggie was lying. She did this shuffle thing on her feet but she stood there, standing still and Beth knew she was being honest. "You deserve to be happy, Beth, and you deserve to be loved."

"I've always known you loved me, Maggie," Beth quickly said.

Maggie smiled a little – not a happy smile – but one that twitched her lips. "And I'll never stop. You're my little sister, Beth. I'll always love you and I'll always be there for you. No matter what happens."

And it wasn't an apology and it wasn't a promise that things would ever be the same between them but for now, Beth stood in that kitchen with Maggie and for the first time in the longest time, she felt like she had a sister – an actual sister and not a warden keeping tabs on her – again.

…

She woke up to the smell of coffee brewing.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she saw that sun was streaming in through the open blinds and she noticed immediately that she was alone in bed. She lifted her head, the sleep fog fading from her brain, and she frowned a little. Where had Daryl gone? She looked to the alarm clock. It was a little before seven. Had he gone hunting? He usually told her the night before if he was going to be doing that and then before he left, he would always murmur in her ear that he was leaving.

He had done none of those things. Maybe something had come up with Merle or at the shop and he had left. There was no need to worry. She just had gotten so used to waking up beside him, it was slightly unnerving to being in bed by herself again.

She sat up, smothering a yawn with her hand and a slight ache between her thighs. She was still naked from the night before and almost immediately, as the covers slipped from her body, she shivered. She pulled herself from the bed and found her underwear on the floor, tugging them back on. She then picked up the flannel shirt of Daryl's and slipped that on, buttoning a couple of buttons.

Had he made coffee before he left? It tickled her nose and it smelled heavenly even if she didn't really like coffee. She still loved the smell. It was strange though. Daryl wasn't really a big coffee drinker either so why had he made a pot?

She went to the closed bedroom door but before opening it, she could hear voices on the other side and she stopped herself. One was Daryl's and the other, she recognized as belonging to Rick. Her fingers were still curled around the doorknob but they fell away and she pressed her ear to the door. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop but she couldn't stop herself. Curiosity was getting the better of her.

"And you're sure?" Daryl was asking.

"Kind of hard to misinterpret what she said," Rick said.

"'m sorry," Daryl then mumbled.

"I guess I saw this coming months ago. How long have I been talking to you about this?" Rick then sighed heavily. "She said that after Judith was born, she felt so unattractive and I didn't do a thing to tell her how beautiful she was. Shane knew just the right things to say. I didn't _know_ I had to tell her she was beautiful. She's Lori. _Of course_ I think she's beautiful. She should have known that."

Daryl was silent and Beth gnawed on her bottom lip. Poor Rick. Poor, poor Rick. And poor Carl and Judith. She had met Lori Grimes a few times and the woman had always been kind to her and Beth wasn't going to judge her because she didn't know her side of the story but Beth stood there and felt her chest ache for Rick right now.

"What are you gonna do 'bout Shane?" Daryl asked then.

"Kill him," Rick said without pause but then sighed heavily. "I don't know."

"You get 'im in the woods, I can have a huntin' accident with 'im," Daryl offered and Beth could hear Rick's smirk through the door.

"Thanks for that, Daryl," he said. "You're a good friend."

"'m sorry," Daryl said again.

"I'm gonna give Merle a call," Rick said. "I don't feel bad going to a strip club now. You want to come with us this time?"

Daryl was quiet for a moment. "I don't think so. I got Beth. I don't need to see any other woman take her clothes off in front of me."

Beth felt her face warm at his words and she felt her heart give a little flip before feeling as if it was expanding past it's normal size in her chest.

That man. God, she loved that man so much. She believed in soul mates and love at first sight and she knew with a doubt that Daryl was her soul mate. They were meant to be. The universe had been planning this all along. He had been born and then a few years later, she had been born and the universe knew from the very start that they would find one another and be together. It was how things were supposed to be.

All was right in the universe.

Rick and Daryl talked for a bit longer and Beth slipped back into the bed, curling on her side, resting her head on his pillow and unable to stop smiling to herself. She began to drift off again and in the back of her mind, she could hear the murmur of voices as Rick bid farewell and then a minute after that, she heard his car driving away and the trailer was silent except for the chirping of birds and the familiar of the woods surrounding them outside.

Her eyes fluttered open when she heard the bedroom door open and Daryl stepped in again. His eyes fell on her immediately and she gave him a small smile, one he returned. He took off his pants and then tugged off his shirt, leaving him in his boxers, and he lifted the covers, slipping back into bed beside her. Immediately, her head found his chest and she sighed contently as his arm wrapped around her shoulders. His other hand found hers and their fingers rested on his stomach.

It was quiet between them but they didn't need to talk. Most times, they didn't have to. So much of their relationship had happened between them without words or discussions and it had been natural and right and they had always been on the same page with one another. Even before they had their first real conversation with one another, she had felt drawn to him – as if they had some sort of connection – and now, after being with him for these past few months, maybe she had never been wrong in thinking that in the first place.

No one understood her like Daryl did and she liked to think that no one understood him like she did. They were true partners in every sense of the word. They would never talk about it but they both knew that he had saved her and they both knew that she had saved him, too. And maybe others could see it be that way between them but it didn't matter whether anyone else could or not. All that mattered was what she and Daryl thought and felt about one another.

And now they had this. Quiet mornings in bed together, their bodies locked in one another's embrace and neither wanting to let go. And Beth knew that they would always have this with one another and there would never be a reason to let go.

…

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	30. Chapter 30

**This is just a short epilogue to show some last cute moments between Daryl and Beth.**

**I can't thank you enough to those who have read this story and stuck with this story and gave it a chance. I loved writing it so much but this story was exhausting for me in a lot of ways and I am honestly excited to move onto something else that won't seem to rub so many people the wrong way. Thank you again for everything. I know there are so many who love it and I can't thank you enough for your kind words and support through this. **

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…

**Chapter Thirty.**

"Well," Beth beamed at him as they walked out of the diner, her hand immediately going to his and twining their fingers together.

"It still don't count, Beth," Daryl gave her a slight frown, reading her mind.

She nearly laughed. "Why not? It was dinner and I didn't pay. Sounds like a date to me. And look. I'm wearing a dress."

"You're always wearin' a dress," he said. "And it don't count 'cause there were five other people with us and Dale picked up the check."

She couldn't hold it in any longer and she laughed now.

After work that evening, Dale had wanted to treat everyone out for dinner and it been such a fun meal, Axel and Martinez trying to up one another with ridiculous stories and sometimes, Beth was laughing so hard, she felt as if she was going to start crying. And she was happy that things between her and Zach weren't as awkward as they had once been. He had begun dating a girl from the community college and he seemed to finally accept that Beth and Daryl were very much together and he had never really had a chance anyway even before they were.

She liked Zach though. They were close in age and they listened to much of the same music and had spent some of the meal talking about their newfound love for Vance Joy. Apparently, he was coming to Atlanta and Zach had offered to get three tickets for himself and the other two for Daryl and Beth. Beth had suggested he get another ticket and bring the girl he was dating along as well.

"A double date," she said with a smile.

It had been raining that morning so Daryl had driven them to work in the pickup truck. And nearing it now, Daryl unlocked the passenger side door and pulled it open for Beth. She stopped and smiled up at him but didn't get in.

"I told you, Daryl. We've already had our first date. I think we're probably up to our tenth date by now, at least," she said.

But he just shook his head like the stubborn man he was. "None of those ten times counted," he reminded her, thinking she was being the stubborn one. "Our first date isn't gonna be gas station food and eatin' it on a rock by a body of water."

"Sounds perfect to me," she just kept smiling up at him and he did his best to frown, telling himself that he wasn't going to give in even though she had the prettiest smile he had ever seen on a person.

He had promised her a date and they were going to go on a date, damn it. The timing of it all just never seemed to line up and he still couldn't think of what they should do. Rick had mentioned – when Daryl had casually asked him about it – that a typical first date was something along the lines of dinner and a movie. And Daryl supposed they could do that. It sounded easy enough. Except in the back of his mind, he remembered a comment Beth had made a long time ago about how all they seemed to do together was eat. Daryl didn't want to do something they did all of the time.

The ride back home was mostly quiet except for Beth singing softly along to whatever song was on the alternative music radio station he usually had it set to. He didn't know the song – didn't know most of the music she liked – but she had declared it to be one of her favorites and he made sure to listen to it closely. Sounded like some British guy sinking; something about a cornerstone – whatever the hell that was. But Beth sang with a soft smile on her face and he was reluctant to turn the truck off when they got home, not wanting her to stop her singing.

Harvey was in his pen, bahhing the instant he saw them, and Beth went to greet him as she always did every night with hugs and kisses and asking if he had been a good lamb though how he could have possibly misbehaved was still a little beyond Daryl. Daryl went to the shed where they kept a trashcan full of oats Hershel had given them and he scooped some more into Harvey's bowl even though he spent his days eating the grass around him while Beth went to get him some fresh water from the pump. Harvey wasn't interested in any of it though now that they were home and Daryl opened the gate door to the pen, the lamb trotting right out and following Beth up to the front door of the trailer.

Inside, Daryl sank down into his arm chair and grabbed one of his books – he was trying to read through _Dracula_ right now and he didn't hate it so far – and Harvey stretched down at his feet like any dog would do. Beth went into the bedroom and came out, wearing a heavier sweater, and she went to the keyboard, sitting down on the stool and beginning to work on the song she was in the middle of writing.

It was a quiet evening like they always had. It was a quiet _life_ but it was theirs and it was better than anything they could ask for.

…

On Thanksgiving, it snowed, and Beth shivered and pressed herself against Daryl as if they had moved to the South Pole overnight. The trailer did have heat and he had two space heaters, too, but Beth's teeth kept chattering and he suggested they get to her dad's house earlier than they were expected.

And when they got to the Greene farm, Beth raced inside where she kept wearing her hat, coat, gloves and scarf on for at least another half hour until she deemed herself at a warm enough temperature again. No one else was there yet and Hershel was in the kitchen, basting the turkey as his first and second wives had both shown him throughout their marriage and Beth would help with the stuffing and the mashed potatoes and when Maggie arrived, she would be in charge of the sweet potatoes. Daryl looked at Beth sitting on the couch and he hesitantly approached her.

There were some days where he still felt unsure about all of this. He knew it was a stupid thing to think, of course, but he could never seem to help himself. And he knew that there would always be that part of him that would doubt this whole thing because he had gone his entire life without something good like her and he knew it would probably take the rest of his life getting used to it; because he saw Beth being in his life for as many days as he had left in this world.

"Hey." He stood in front of her and she lifted her head, giving him a smile. "If you wanna stay here… with your pops for the winter-"

"Don't be silly," Beth swiftly cut him off as if she had been expecting all along for him to say something like that. "You know me. I'm always cold," she then reminded him. "I'm just going to get some heavier sweaters and socks. I'll be fine, Daryl," she said and he nodded, his eyes lowering to the floor, and she stood up in front of him. "Hey," she said softly and he looked at her. She gave him that same small smile and her arms circled around his waist. "Guess you'll just have to find some other ways to keep me warm," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Instead of smirking, Daryl quickly glanced to the kitchen before back to Beth. "Quiet," he said. "Don't wan' your dad to hear. You're a good girl, 'member?" He said.

Beth laughed softly as if she couldn't help herself. "I'm still a good girl, Daryl. But I'm pretty sure my daddy's figured things out between us."

Daryl instantly felt the tips of his ears turn red and Beth laughed again before standing up on her toes and pecking him on the lips.

"What do you know?" She then smiled faintly. "Already so much warmer."

Daryl smirked a little at that and he glanced to the kitchen once more to make sure that Hershel hadn't suddenly appeared before he lowered his lips back to Beth's and gave her a longer kiss, his fingers tangling in her hair, keeping her head to his.

…

Thanksgiving that year at the Greene farm was a full house.

It was Hershel, Beth and Daryl and then Shawn was coming in from Savannah and Maggie and Glenn were driving in from Atlanta as was Rosita, carpooling with them since her own family was in Texas and after all of her personal issues, she didn't have the best relationship with them. Merle and Annie were coming with their one-month old son, Hank. Annie usually cooked a Thanksgiving meal but with the newborn, she was so exhausted and Hershel insisted she come over and let someone else do the cooking. Rick had been invited, too, but he was with the kids and with Lori, too, today – the two deciding to try and work things out between them; to see if things could be worked out.

Daryl stood in the doorway of the living room, drinking from a can of Ginger Ale and looking at all of the people crowded in there, talking and laughing, and passing baby Hank around.

It was still overwhelming to him at times – to be included in something like this; to want to be wanted by so many people in one room. He wondered if it was one of those things he would ever get used to. He didn't know. He did know that he _wanted_ to get used to it though.

He smirked as Merle barked at Shawn, telling him to not touch his baby until he put hand sanitizer on. Daryl had suspected that Merle would be a good dad and so far, he had been right. It seemed like the curse of the Dixon name was finally broken.

And as that thought entered his head, his eyes instantly found Beth in the room. She was sitting in one of the two chairs next to the window, Rosita sitting in the other, and the two girls were leaning into one another, giggling and whispering, and as if she knew that he was looking at her, Beth moved her head to look at him. Her smile brightened the instant their eyes locked and she looked to Rosita, saying something, before she stood up and Daryl watched her coming his way.

Without a word, she came to stand beside him, her arms slipping around his waist and, and he dropped his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into his side. She smelled like a mixture of buttercream and gravy and he couldn't help but turn his head and nuzzle his nose into the hair at the top of her head, taking a whiff. Beth closed her eyes and smiled and snuggled even closer. He tightened his arm as if she was going to step away at any second and he didn't want her to go anywhere.

It had taken him a while – too damn long – but he knew now that without Beth, he hadn't had much of a life and now that he had her, he wasn't letting her go anywhere without him.

"Been doin' some thinkin'," he said, his nose still to her hair.

"Hmmm?" She tilted her head up slightly.

"'bout our first date…" he took a moment. "How 'bout we get your dad to watch Harvey and we get on my bike and just drive? See where we wind up."

Beth didn't say anything to that at first. She just tightened her arms around his waist and squeezed them around him. "I think that's the best thing I've ever heard," she said. She then tilted her head up to look at him. "Although it won't be our first date. I told you. I think this will be our eleventh."

Daryl just smirked and shook his head a little, his nose going back to her hair. "Stubborn brat," he mumbled and she laughed softly.

"I love you, too," she then said in a soft whisper and he tightened his arm around her.

…

**The End.**

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading and please review one more time for me.**

**One last author's note (even though I really hate having to explain myself): I didn't write this story for conflict or drama. I was going to include Karen to add just that before I realized that it would ruin the story I was trying to tell and I deleted it.**

**Daryl and Beth had their issues and were working to overcome them. That's all it is and they found love with one another. I feel like there are a ton of other Daryl/Beth stories that have plenty of drama in it if that is more your thing but that's not what this story is about. I feel like every day life can have enough drama in it without adding things to it. **


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